Election Commissioners appointment bill shows Modi wants to 'control' poll panel, says Congress

Jairam Ramesh said the bill introduced in the Upper House on Thursday would 'ensure executive interference' with its 2:1 dominance of the selection committee.

Sharing BJP veteran L K Advani's 2012 letter on appointments to the Election Commission, Congress on Friday said the new bill to replace Chief Justice with a Cabinet Minister in the selection committee for choosing Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners “cements” the view that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to “ensure control” over the poll panel.

Congress's Rajya Sabha Chief Whip and General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023 introduced in the Upper House on Thursday would "ensure executive interference" with its 2:1 dominance of the committee.

According to the letter accessed from BJP website by Ramesh, Advani had written to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 2 June, 2012 that there is a "rapidly growing opinion" in the country which holds that appointments to constitutional bodies such the Election Commission should be "done on a bipartisan basis in order to remove any impression of bias or lack of transparency and fairness".

"No, this isn’t a Modi critic. This is an excerpt from the second para of a letter from Advani to then PM Dr. Manmohan Singh on 2nd June, 2012. You can still find the letter on BJP’s website," Ramesh said.

Advani had then proposed a five-member panel of Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India, Law Minister and Leaders of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to elect the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners.

Ramesh said the bill brought by the Modi government is not only against what Advani proposed but also overturns a five-judge Constitution bench judgement from March 2 this year which said the office of Chief Election Commissioners as well as the Election Commissioners have to be "insulated from the executive interference" in order to "allow independence in the functioning" of the Election Commission as a constitutional body.

"In its current form, the CEC Bill will ensure executive interference with its 2:1 dominance of the committee. This coming from the Modi government in an election year further cements the view that Mr. Modi wants to ensure control over the Election Commission," he added.

In his letter written against the backdrop of then CEC S Y Qureshi retiring, Advani had said that how the vacancy would be filled is a matter that has generated both interest and concern in equal measures.

Advani had suggested the setting up of a "broad collegium" for the appointments in the EC.