NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday could not take up the hearing on petitions challenging the Election Commissioner Appointment Act due to paucity of time and has postponed the matter.
According to reports, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh indicated that the matter would now be listed after the Holi festival break due to paucity of time. But no time and date has been fixed for hearing the matter.
A Constitution Bench of the apex court in 2023 gave a verdict mandating that the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioner should be selected by a panel comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India.
However, the government in the same year made a law for the purpose and replaced the Chief Justice of India with a Union Minister nominated by the Prime Minister in the panel.
This was then challenged by NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), Lok Prahari, and Jaya Thakur in the Supreme Court and they also questioned the appointments of Gyanesh Kumar as Chief Election Commissioner and Vivek Joshi as Election Commissioner on February 18, 2025, under the new law.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for petitioner NGO ADR, said it was an important issue that required an urgent consideration.
He said that the matter involved a short legal question - whether the 2023 Constitution bench verdict should be followed for the appointment of the CEC and ECs through a panel involving the Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition and the Chief Justice of India or the 2023 law, which excludes the CJI from the panel.
Bhushan, on Tuesday, also informed the SC bench that despite the 2023 ruling, the government made a “mockery of democracy” by excluding the CJI and going ahead by appointing the new CEC and the EC.
The ADR, in its plea, has also made a plea saying the election commission should be insulated from “political” and “executive interference” for maintaining a healthy democracy.
A lawyer representing petitioner Jaya Thakur emphasised the importance of the case and requested an immediate hearing. Justice Suryakant responded that every petition filed in the Supreme Court is important.
The hearing came after the Centre appointed EC Gyanesh Kumar as the next CEC and Vivek Joshi as the EC. Kumar’s tenure will run until January 26, 2029.