The Department of Elections was created on October 01, 1955, amalgamating the then existing two Departments of Parliamentary Elections and Local Body Elections. The Vision of the Department is to protect democracy in the country; it is achieved by conducting free and fair elections and referenda. The Department functioned as an independent Government Department not coming under any Minister. The Commissioner was answerable only to the Parliament. In October 2001, the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution was enacted to provide for an Election Commission appointed by the President on the recommendations of the Constitutional Council. The Election Commission was not appointed as envisaged and the incumbent Commissioner of Elections Continued to function in the post until September 2010 when the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution was passed. The Eighteenth Amendment provided for the President to appoint a person holding office as an Additional Commissioner of Elections or Deputy Commissioner of Elections to discharge the functions conferred on the Election Commission.