Pleas filed in Supreme Court against new law on appointment of CEC and ECs

New Delhi: Two pleas have been filed in the Supreme Court challenging validity of a new law on appointment of Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners, enacted in December, 2023. The law replaced the Chief Justice of India by a Minister in a panel headed by the Prime Minister and comprising Leader of Opposition for the purpose, contrary to a judgment by the top court.

Madhya Pradesh Congress leader Jaya Thakur and advocate Gopal Singh filed separate petitions against the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Terms of Office) Act, 2023.

Thakur sought a direction for declaring the provisions of the 2023 law as ultra vires under Articles 14, 21, 50 and 324 of the Constitution inasmuch as these are violative of the principles of free and fair election, apart from being contrary to the principles laid down by the Supreme Court in the case of 'Anoop Baranwal Versus Union of India'.

She claimed the practice of appointing the member to the Election Commission without following a fair, just and transparent process of selection by constituting an independent and neutral collegiums/selection committee to recommend the name and without making a law for the same as obligated in Article 324(2) of Constitution, is discriminatory and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution, her plea stated.

In order to ensure the purity of the election process, it was thought by our Constitution makers that the responsibility to hold free and fair election in the country should be entrusted to an independent body which would be insulted from political executive interference, it said.

"It is inherent in a democratic set up that the agency which is entrusted the task of holding elections to the legislatures should be fully insulted so that it can function as an independent agency free from external pressures from the party in power or executive of the day. This objective is achieved by setting up of an election Commission, a permanent body, under Art 324 (1) of the Constitution," it added.

In his plea, Singh asked the court to give directions to the Union government to include the Chief Justice of India in the selection committee for the appointment of the CEC and ECs which currently comprises of the Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition in the House of the People and a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the Prime Minister.

He sought a direction to implement an independent and transparent system of selection constituting a neutral and independent selection committee for appointment of CEC and ECs.

The Law and Justice Ministry notified the new Act on December 28, 2023.

In its judgment on March 2, 2023, the Supreme Court's Constitution bench had declared that the appointment of Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners would be made by the President on advice of a panel, comprising Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition and Chief Justice of India until a law is put in place in this regard.