Multiple petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court of India against the Centre's move to replace the Chief Justice of India with a union minister in the three-member panel for selecting the chief election commissioner (CEC) and the other election commissioners.
The Centre had, on December 28, issued a gazette notification to this effect.
India's Election Commission, comprising the CEC and multiple commissioners, is tasked with ensuring that the election process in India takes place without any interference by the sitting government and in a free and fair manner.
Gopal Singh, a lawyer and one of the complainants, said the substitution of the CJI with a union minister in the three-member panel is against public interest and fundamental rights to liberty and equality.
"The Court may impose costs on the petitioner(s) if it finds that the petition was frivolous or instituted with oblique or mala fide motive or lacks bona fides," Singh said in his plea.
In March, the Supreme Court had directed that the appointment to the posts of CEC and the ECs shall be done by the President of India on the basis of the advice tendered by a committee including the prime minister of India, leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha and the CJI. In case there is no such leader, the leader of the largest party in the opposition in the Lok Sabha having the largest numerical strength, and the Chief Justice of India should be included in the panel.
In a similar development, another plea was filed by Congress leader Dr Jaya Thakur against the new law in the Supreme Court.
Thakur, in her plea sought that the SC should pass directions to declare Section 7 and 8 of the CEC, and other ECs (Appointment, Conditions of service and terms of Office) ACT, 2023 as ultra vires under Articles 14, 21, 50 and 324 of the Constitution of India. The plea also said that these are violative of the principles of free and fair election, apart from being contrary to the principles of law.
She claimed in her petition that the new law is contrary to the principles laid down by the court in the case of Anoop Baranwal Versus Union of India (UOI).
It is to be noted that the case would likely to come up for hearing before the Supreme Court very soon, keeping in view the sensitivity and importance of the matter, a senior official of the Supreme Court registry said.