NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from the Centre and the poll panel on a plea to treat the two election commissioners on a par with the chief election commissioner (CEC) in the matter of removability. A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra granted the Central government and the Election Commission of India (ECI) four weeks to file responses to the PIL filed by Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, a lawyer and the Delhi BJP spokesperson.
The petition also seeks a direction to the Centre to take steps to confer rule-making authority on the ECI on the lines of that vested with the apex court to empower it to make election-related rules.The plea says, “The element of independence sought to be achieved under the Constitution is not exclusively for an individual alone but for the institution. Hence, autonomy to the ECI can only be strengthened if the ECs are also provided with similar protection as that of the CEC.”