NEW DELHI: AAP on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court judgement on appointment of the Election Commissioner. The party said that the top court’s judgement will pave way for unbiased and fair appointment of Election Commissioners.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal hailed the decision and said, “Truly landmark order by Hon’ble SC on EC issue. We welcome the order.”The apex court ruled that the appointments of the chief election commissioner and election commissioners will be made by the president on advice of a committee comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition and the Chief Justice of India.
AAP said the apex court judgment on the Adani issue was a “tight slap” on the Narendra Modi government. AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said that the Opposition have raised doubts about the independence of the Election Commission several times.
"Democracy is inexplicably intertwined with power to the people. It facilitates the peaceful revolution in the hands of the ordinary man if held in a free and fair manner" - Supreme Court
“Many times the EC has waited for the PM to complete his scheduled rallies before announcing the election schedule. Time and again many people have raised doubts about the independence of the Election Commission of India and therefore the decision to appoint a high-powered committee to select the Election Commissioners is welcomed,” he said.
The bench was delivering the verdict on the batch of petitions recommending reform in the process of appointment of the Election Commission of India. In a concurring but separate judgement, Justice Rastogi made it clear that the grounds for the removal of Election Commissioners should be the same as that of the Chief Election Commissioner.
Noting that there is a lacuna in the law, the bench said, “Democracy is inexplicably intertwined with power to the people. It facilitates the peaceful revolution in the hands of the ordinary man if held in a free and fair manner.”