New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to stay the appointment of the two new Election Commissioners while dismissing the applications challenging the selection.
This comes a day after the Centre had defended the selection of the two new Election Commissioners by a committee that excluded the Chief Justice of India, saying the independence of the Election Commission “does not arise from” the presence of a judicial member in the selection committee.
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Wednesday 05 Feb. 2025
Responding to the SC’s notice on a plea filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) which challenged the appointments, the Ministry of Law and Justice, in an affidavit on Wednesday, also denied that the meeting of the selection committee was advanced to pre-empt a hearing in the Supreme Court the next day.
In March 2023, a five-judge Constitution Bench of the Court had ruled that the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners (ECs) shall be appointed on the advice of a committee comprising the Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and the Chief Justice of India.
The new law on appointment of the CEC and ECs was enacted after the SC’s direction, on March 2, 2023, in the Anoop Baranwal vs Union of India case, to include the CJI in the committee.
The government on Wednesday underlined that the SC had only provided a “stop gap” arrangement, until the Parliament stepped in. “Where the Constitution itself specifically vests Parliament with the power to decide upon the appointments of the Election Commissioner, and Parliament exercises this power, no question of Executive overruling” can arise, it said.
The Supreme Court said that staying the appointment of two new Election Commissioners at this stage would be “creating chaos”. While making the observations during a hearing on Thursday, the court also noted that there are no allegations against the newly appointed election commissioners, Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, who were picked after changes were made to the selection panel under the new law.
The bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta said, “You can’t say the Election Commission is under the thumb of the Executive.”
Pointing out to the petitioners that it cannot be presumed that the law enacted by the Centre is wrong, the bench added, “There are no allegations against the persons who have been appointed… Elections are around the corner. Balance of convenience is very important.”
The Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023, had been passed by the Parliament last year and subsequently got the President’s assent.
The new law replaced the Chief Justice of India on a committee to pick election commissioners with a Union Cabinet minister. The committee now has the Prime Minister, a Union Cabinet minister and the Leader of the Opposition, raising concerns over its impartiality.
