Question of balance hangs over CEC & EC selection panel
Parliament passed the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill in the recently concluded winter session. The bill states that the chief election commissioner (CEC) and two election commissioners (ECs) would henceforth be appointed by a committee comprising the prime minister, the leader of the opposition and a Union Cabinet minister. The bill was necessitated after a five-judge Supreme Court bench held earlier this year that the appointment of the CEC and ECs by exclusively the executive branch was unconstitutional.
The court put in place an interim mechanism in the form of an appointment committee comprising the PM, the leader of the opposition and the chief justice of India (CJI). The court said this interim committee would make the appointments till parliament enacted a law on the subject. The government moved swiftly and brought in the bill which replaced the CJI with a Cabinet minister. The 2-1 majority for the government on the selection committee effectively brings back control of the executive over CEC and EC appointments.
The matter reached the Supreme Court when petitioners asked the court to interpret Article 324(2) of the Constitution, which governs CEC and EC appointments. The article states: “The Election Commission shall consist of the chief election commissioner and such number of other election commissioners, if any, as the president may from time to time fix and the appointment of the chief election commissioner and other election commissioners shall, subject to the provisions of any law made in that behalf by parliament, be made by the president.”
While hearing the case, the court opined that the power given to the president to appoint the CEC and ECs was a temporary arrangement until parliament made a law. The court also opined that the law should maintain the independence of the Election Commission. It said that the Constituent Assembly debates on the subject made it clear that the framers had wanted the commission to be free of government influence. It was with this aim that the court included the CJI on the selection panel. The new law falls short on the issue of maintaining the independence of the Election Commission.