NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it would hear on May 14 the batch of pleas challenging the validity of the law in connection with the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners, which dropped the Chief Justice of India from the selection panel for Election Commissioners.
A three-judge bench of the top court, led by Justice Surya Kant, and Justices Dipankar Datta and Ujjal Bhuyan fixed the date of hearing as May 14, after the lawyer appearing for the petitioner NGO, Prashant Bhushan, requested the bench for an urgent hearing in the matter.
Bhushan, appearing for a petitioner NGO- Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), challenging the appointment process, said the issue was covered by the Constitution bench verdict of 2023, and the court has not heard it for a long time.
He requested the bench for an immediate hearing, citing that this matter goes to the root of our democracy, and was listed today for hearing, but it seemed that hearing would be impossible today.
Bhushan alleged in the top court that despite the top court in its March 2, 2023, verdict setting up a panel comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition and the CJI to appoint the CEC, it was amended by the Central government later.
A new law, The Election Commissioner's Act, was passed in December 2023, in which the CJI was dropped from a committee to appoint the CEC and other ECs. Now, as per the new law, they are to be appointed as per the recommendation of a panel comprising the Prime Minister, a Cabinet Minister and the Leader of the Opposition (LOP).
Bhushan further alleged that removing the CJI from the selection panel, the Executive has acquired control over the appointment of ECs, which is a "threat to electoral democracy."
Several individuals, including Congress leader Jaya Thakur, NGOs -- ADR, the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Lok Prahari etc, had moved the top court, challenging the validity and seeking a stay on the operation of Section 7 of the CEC and other ECs Act, 2023, which excludes the CJI from the panel that picks the CEC and ECs.
The petitioners in the top court argued that the previous system, which involves the CJI as one of the panel members, safeguards the autonomy of the institution.
"The 2023 Act was enacted in response to a Supreme Court ruling that called for insulating the election commissioner appointment process from executive influence, which recommended the inclusion of the CJI in the selection panel. The new legislation, however, diverges from this suggestion, raising concerns about potential political interference in the selection process," the petitions said.
