The Supreme Court
on Wednesday agreed to hear on March 15 a plea of an NGO challenging the
exclusion of the Chief Justice of India from a panel meant for selecting the
CEC and election commissioners on the grounds that the poll panel should be
insulated from political and executive interference to maintain a healthy
democracy.
A bench headed by
Justice Sanjiv Khanna took note of the submissions of lawyer Prashant Bhushan,
appearing for the NGO, Association for Democratic Reforms, seeking urgent
listing of the plea and said it will be listed on Friday.
I just got the
message from the CJI that it will be listed on Friday, Justice Khanna said.
The NGO
challenges the validity and seeks a stay on the operation of Section 7 of the
Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023 which
excludes the CJI from the panel meant to select the CEC and ECs.
Under the new
law, the selection panel includes the prime minister as the chairperson and the
leader of opposition and a union minister nominated by the PM are the two
members of it.
The NGO has moved
the top court after Election Commissioner Arun Goel put in his papers recently.
Direct the Union of India to appoint the vacant positions of Election
Commissioners till the pendency of the writ petition, in accordance with the
Selection Committee laid down by this Hon'ble Court in Anoop Baranwal v. Union
of India (Supra) in 2023.
Democracy is a
facet of the basic structure of the Constitution and in order to ensure free
and fair elections and to maintain healthy democracy in our country, the
Election Commission should be insulated from political and/or executive
interference, the plea, filed in the disposed of PIL, said.
A five-judge
Constitution bench, on March 2, 2023, had ruled that the appointment of the
Chief Election Commissioner and ECs will be done by the President on the
recommendation of a committee, comprising the prime minister, Leader of the
Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the CJI, to maintain the "purity" of
the electoral process.
The fresh plea
alleged that the verdict, in relation to the selection panel, was overruled by
the Centre without removing the basis of the judgement.
The fresh plea,
filed through lawyer Bhushan, said the March 2, 2023 judgement had held that
leaving appointment of the members of ECs and CEC in the hands of the executive
would be seriously detrimental to the health of our democracy and conduct of
free and fair election.
That thereafter,
in December 2023 Parliament in the absence of the opposition as well as
substantive debate and discussion passed the Chief Election Commissioner and
other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of
Office) Act, 2023. This law came into effect from 2nd January 2024, it said.
It is pertinent
to mention that the Chief Justice of India has been removed and cabinet
minister (to be nominated by the prime minister) has been added thereby
restoring the previous law i.e. selection by executive thereby undermining the
rule of law and threatening democracy, it said.
The composition
of the selection committee under the new law amounted to excessive interference
of the executive in the appointment of the ECs and CEC and is detrimental to
the independence of the poll panel, it said.
Recently, another
plea has been filed by Madhya Pradesh Congress leader Jaya Thakur seeking to
restrain the Centre from appointing new election commissioners as per a 2023
law. The Congress leader has also challenged the provisions of the 2023 law.