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Sukumar Sen (Chief Election Commissioner, India)
Encyclopedia
Sukumar Sen (born 1899, date of death unknown) was an Indian civil servant who was Chief Election Commissioner of India
from 21 March 1950 to 19 December 1958. He also served as first Chief Election Commissioner in Nepal
and Sudan
.
Sen was the older brother of the more famous Ashoke Kumar Sen
(1913–1996), Union Law Minister and a noted Indian barrister. Another brother was Amiya Kumar Sen, the last man to see Rabindranath Tagore
alive.
Sen was born in 1899, the elder or eldest son of a district magistrate. He was educated at Presidency College, Kolkata
and at the University of London
. He was awarded a gold medal in Mathematics at the latter. In 1921, Sen joined the Indian Civil Service, and served in various districts as an ICS officer and as a judge. In 1947, he was appointed Chief Secretary of West Bengal
, the senior-most rank that an ICS officer could attain in any state in British India. He was still serving in that capacity when he was sent on deputation as chief election commissioner.
He remained CEC from 21 March 1950 until 19 December 1958.
writes of Sukumar Sen in 2002: on India's first general election in 1952 has historian 's take on the first CEC:
Tinker and Walker write that Sukumar Sen was aided by two Regional Election Commissioners plus one Chief Election Officer for each state.
The ability of India's first political leaders to refrain from interfering with the machinery, as well as their decision to retain the Indian Civil Service (renaming it to the Indian Administrative Service
and making some cosmetic changes) gave Sen and his colleagues the freedom to adapt the machinery used by the British in the first Indian elections for the purposes of a general election.
, which started on 15 June 1960. Uday Chand Mahtab
and the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy
, facilitated the establishment of this university. As a mark of respect and to perpetuate his memory the road leading from G.T. Road to Golapbagh has been named as Sukumar Sen Road.
Chief Election Commissioner of India
The Chief Election Commissioner heads the Election Commission of India, a body constitutionally empowered to conduct free and fair elections to the national and state legislatures...
from 21 March 1950 to 19 December 1958. He also served as first Chief Election Commissioner in Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
and Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
.
Sen was the older brother of the more famous Ashoke Kumar Sen
Ashoke Kumar Sen
Ashoke Kumar Sen was an Indian barrister, a former Cabinet minister of India, and an Indian parliamentarian....
(1913–1996), Union Law Minister and a noted Indian barrister. Another brother was Amiya Kumar Sen, the last man to see Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
alive.
Sen was born in 1899, the elder or eldest son of a district magistrate. He was educated at Presidency College, Kolkata
Presidency College, Kolkata
Presidency University, Kolkata, formerly Hindu College and Presidency College, is a unitary, state aided university, located in Kolkata, West Bengal. and one of the premier institutes of learning of liberal arts and sciences in India. In 2002 it was ranked number one by the weekly news magazine...
and at the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
. He was awarded a gold medal in Mathematics at the latter. In 1921, Sen joined the Indian Civil Service, and served in various districts as an ICS officer and as a judge. In 1947, he was appointed Chief Secretary of West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
, the senior-most rank that an ICS officer could attain in any state in British India. He was still serving in that capacity when he was sent on deputation as chief election commissioner.
He remained CEC from 21 March 1950 until 19 December 1958.
As Chief Election Commissioner
Historian Ramachandra GuhaRamachandra Guha
Ramachandra Guha is an Indian writer whose research interests have included environmental, social, political and cricket history. He is also a columnist for the newspapers The Telegraph , and The Hindustan Times.-Early life and education:Born in Dehra Dun, Uttarakhand, India in 1958, Guha studied...
writes of Sukumar Sen in 2002: on India's first general election in 1952 has historian 's take on the first CEC:
Nehru's haste [in wanting India's first general election] was understandable, but it was viewed with some alarm by the man who had to make the election possible, a man who is an unsung hero of Indian democracy. It is a pity we know so little about Sukumar Sen. He left no memoirs and, it appears, no papers either.
It was perhaps the mathematician in Sen, which made him ask the prime minister to wait. No officer of State, certainly no Indian official, has ever had such a stupendous task placed in front of him. Consider, first of all, the size of the electorate: 176 million Indians aged 21 or more, of whom about 85 per cent could not read or write. Each voter had to be identified, named and registered. This registration of voters was merely the first step. For how did one design party symbols, ballot papers and ballot boxes for a mostly unlettered electorate? Then, polling stations had to be built and properly spaced out, and honest and efficient polling officers recruited. Voting has to be as transparent as possible, to allow for the fair play of the multiplicity of parties that would contest. Moreover, with the general election would take place elections to the State Assemblies. Working with Sukumar Sen in this regard were the election commissioners of the different provinces, also I.C.S. men.
Tinker and Walker write that Sukumar Sen was aided by two Regional Election Commissioners plus one Chief Election Officer for each state.
The ability of India's first political leaders to refrain from interfering with the machinery, as well as their decision to retain the Indian Civil Service (renaming it to the Indian Administrative Service
Indian Administrative Service
The Indian Administrative Service is the administrative civil service of the Government of India. It is one of the three All India Services....
and making some cosmetic changes) gave Sen and his colleagues the freedom to adapt the machinery used by the British in the first Indian elections for the purposes of a general election.
Other activities
Sen was the first Vice-Chancellor of Burdwan UniversityBardhaman
'Bardhaman or Burdwan , is a city of West Bengal state in eastern India. It is the headquarters of Bardhaman District....
, which started on 15 June 1960. Uday Chand Mahtab
Bardhaman Raj
The Bardhaman Raj was a zamindari estate that flourished from about 1657 to 1955, first under the Mughals and then under the British in the province of Bengal in India...
and the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy
Bidhan Chandra Roy
Bidhan Chandra Roy, M.R.C.P., F.R.C.S. was the second Chief Minister of West Bengal in India. He remained in his post for 14 years as a Indian National Congress candidate, from 1948 until his death in 1962. He was a highly respected physician and a renowned freedom fighter...
, facilitated the establishment of this university. As a mark of respect and to perpetuate his memory the road leading from G.T. Road to Golapbagh has been named as Sukumar Sen Road.
Sources
- Ramachandra GuhaRamachandra GuhaRamachandra Guha is an Indian writer whose research interests have included environmental, social, political and cricket history. He is also a columnist for the newspapers The Telegraph , and The Hindustan Times.-Early life and education:Born in Dehra Dun, Uttarakhand, India in 1958, Guha studied...
(2002). * " The biggest gamble in history" The Hindu 27 January 2002, magazine section. Later reprinted as "Democracys biggest gamble: Indias first free elections in 1952. (Reconsiderations)." (partly available online) World Policy Journal 22 March 2002.
- Ramachandra Guha (2007). 1957The Hindu 4 March 2007, magazine section. Guha praises Sen as "a man of great intelligence and integrity."
- Justin Willis Director. "'A Model of its Kind': Representation and Performance in the Sudan Self-government Election of 1953", The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, Volume 35, Issue 3 September 2007 , pages 485 - 502
- Irene Tinker, Mil Walker. JSTOR. "JSTOR: The First General Elections in India and Indonesia". Far Eastern Survey, Vol. 25, No. 7 (Jul., 1956), pp. 97–110 (available via subscription only).