Supreme Court To Hear Pleas To Stay Election Commissioners Act On March 15

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (March 13) agreed to hear on March 15 the petitions challenging the appointment procedure of Election Commissioners under the new Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023 (Act).

The petitions, moved by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Dr. Jaya Thakur (general secretary of the Madhya Pradesh Mahila Congress Committee), were mentioned before a Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, MM Sundresh and Bela M Trivedi.

Yesterday, when Bhushan had initially mentioned the plea on behalf of ADR for urgent listing, Justice Khanna had asked the Counsel to follow proper procedure by moving a mentioning slip. Today, Justice Khanna informed that the petitions are listed for Friday.

"I just got the message from the Chief Justice, the matters are listed for Friday", Justice Khanna told Advocate-on-Record Prashant Bhushan.

The present development comes on the heels of Election Commissioner Arun Goel's resignation as well as the likelihood of a high-level selection panel headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi filling the impending vacancies in the Election Commission by March 15.

The petitioners have filed interlocutory applications seeking to direct the Union to immediately appoint a new member of the Election Commission in accordance with Anoop Baranwal v. Union of India decision (2023), where it was directed that appointments to the posts of chief election commissioner and election commissioners should be made by the president based on the advice tendered by a committee consisting of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and the Chief Justice of India.

ADR's public interest litigation under Article 32 of the Constitution more specifically challenges Section 7 of the Act for allegedly violating Article 14 and the basic features of the Constitution. This section outlines the appointment process, stating that the chief election commissioner and other election commissioners shall be appointed by the president on the recommendation of a selection committee. The committee consists of the Prime Minister as chairperson, the Leader of Opposition in the House of the People as a member, and a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the Prime Minister as another member.

Case Details: Association for Democratic Reforms v. Union of India | Writ Petition (Civil) No. 87 of 2024 (alongwith connected matter)