BREAKING | Parliament Passes Bill On Election Commissioners Appointment; CJI Dropped From Selection Panel
In a significant development during the Winter Session, the Lok Sabha passed the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023 on Thursday (December 21). The bill aims to regulate the appointment, conditions of service, and term of office for the chief election commissioner (CEC) and other election...
In a significant development during the Winter Session, the Lok Sabha passed the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023 on Thursday (December 21). The bill aims to regulate the appointment, conditions of service, and term of office for the chief election commissioner (CEC) and other election commissioners (EC), as well as outline the procedure for the functioning of the Election Commission.
Originally introduced on August 10, the bill was moved for consideration and passage today by Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and passed the parliament's lower house today. Before this, the election commissioners bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha on December 12, amidst opposition parties staging a walkout today in protest against what they have described as executive overreach and a chipping away of the independence of the election commission.
Key provisions of the bill includes the replacement of the Election Commission (Conditions of Service of Election Commissioners and Transaction of Business) Act, 1991. The new legislation covers aspects such as the appointment, salary, and removal of the CEC and other election commissioners. The president would appoint the CEC and ECs based on the recommendation of a selection committee, comprising the prime minister, a union cabinet minister, and the leader of the opposition or the leader of the largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha. The recommendations of this committee would remain valid even in the absence of a full committee. A search committee, headed by the Law Minister, would propose a panel of names to the selection committee, with eligibility criteria requiring candidates to have held a position equivalent to the secretary to the central government. The salary and conditions of service for the CEC and ECs were set to be equivalent to that of the cabinet secretary, deviating from the previous equivalence with a Supreme Court judge's salary.
However, after concerns were raised over the pay disparity by former CECs who asserted that the proposed changes downgraded the status of the election commission, the union government introduced an amendment to maintain the salary and perks of the CEC and ECs at the level of a Supreme Court judge, rather than aligning them with that of a cabinet secretary. The union government's amendment also introduced alterations to the search committee and the removal process of the CEC and ECs. The amendment also includes a clause safeguarding the CEC and ECs from legal proceedings related to actions taken during their tenure, provided such actions were carried out in the discharge of official duties. The amendment aimed to shield these officials from civil or criminal proceedings related to their official functions.
Notably, the bill drops the Chief Justice of India from the selection committee. For more context, in March this year, a constitution bench of the Supreme Court had ruled that the election commissioners shall be selected by a committee comprising the prime minister, the leader of opposition, and the chief justice, till the parliament frames a law prescribing the selection process. The bench led by Justice KM Joseph passed the direction to ensure the independence of the election commissioners.
While moving the motion for the bill's consideration, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said the appointment of election commissioners - which was earlier not governed by any specific provision under law - was an important responsibility of the executive. Justifying the move to remove the chief justice from the selection panel, the minister said, "This is an important executive function. The architects of our Constitution enshrined the separation of powers in Article 50. The executive should do the executive's job, the judiciary should do the judiciary's job, and the legislature should should the legislature's job."
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen MP Asaduddin Owaisi, representing the Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency, however, raised concerns over the election commission's independence after passing of this bill, saying it will "work in the shadows of Prime Minister Narendra Modi". Having the chief justice, he said, would have added legitimacy in the eyes of the public. Saying that this move will decrease institutional legitimacy of the election commission in the voters' eyes, the legislator accused the government of seeking to overturn a Constitution Bench judgment of the Supreme Court.
Biju Janata Dal legislator Bhartruhari Mahtab disagreed, saying that the addition of the Chief Justice of India to the selection committee raised the question of a violation of the separation of power doctrine since these appointments fall in the executive domain. During his concluding remarks, Law Minister Meghwal notably denied the contention that the election commissioners bill was an attempt to overturn a Supreme Court ruling. He explained, "The Supreme Court made a stopgap arrangement to exist till the Parliament enacted a law. Now, we have come up with a law to fill this gap relating to the appointment of election commissioners."
The Lok Sabha passed the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023 on Thursday afternoon, amidst the suspension of 141 members from both Houses.