Govt moves Bill dropping CJI from EC selection process; Opposition protests

Proposes Cabinet minister in the panel

The government on Thursday introduced a Bill in the Rajya Sabha that seeks to replace the Chief Justice of India with a Union Cabinet minister in the panel for selection of the chief election commissioner and election commissioners.

The Opposition protested the introduction of the Bill, accusing the government of attempting to erode the Election Commission of India’s (ECI’s) independence and diluting a Supreme Court Constitution Bench order.

In March, a five-judge constitution Bench of the Supreme Court ruled that the selection panel should comprise the prime minister, the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and the Chief Justice of India (CJI) till Parliament frames a law on the appointment of the chief election commissioner (CEC) and election commissioners (ECs).

Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal moved the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023, in the Rajya Sabha. The Bill has proposed a three-member committee comprising the PM, the leader of the Opposition, and a Cabinet minister that the prime minister would nominate. Before the SC’s March order, the President of India appointed the election commissioners on the government's advice.

A vacancy will arise in the ECI early next year when Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey demits office on February 14 on attaining the age of 65 years. In the coming months, the EC will announce the Assembly polls to five states — Telangana, Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan — by early October. It would likely announce the schedule for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls by the first half of March.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan said, in his view, the Bill, moved by the government to negate the Constitution Bench’s judgment, seeks to “control the appointment of the ECs” and “will be unconstitutional since the SC has emphasised that the appointment of the ECs should be independent of government control”. Bhushan said it was likely to be struck down since it would violate the basic structure of the constitution.

Congress General Secretary (organization) K C Venugopal called it a “blatant attempt at making the Election Commission a total puppet in the hands of the prime minister”. He termed it an “unconstitutional, arbitrary, and unfair Bill, which his party will oppose. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said the proposed committee will be under the control of the PM. “It will influence the impartiality of elections” as the appointment committee will have “two BJP and one Congress members” and “obviously the selected election commissioner will be loyal to the BJP”, Kejriwal posted on X (formerly Twitter).

CPI (M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said the Bill came on the heels of the government negating a Supreme Court verdict on the powers of the Delhi government. “The Modi government has now diluted another Constitution Bench judgment,” he said.