BREAKING| Supreme Court To Deliver Judgment Tomorrow On Petitions Seeking Independent Mechanism To Appoint Election Commissioners

The Supreme Court will deliver judgment tomorrow on a batch of petitions seeking an independent mechanism to appoint Election Commissioners in the Election Commission of India so as to ensure the independence and autonomy of the poll panel.

A Constitution Bench comprising Justices KM Joseph, Ajay Rastogi, Aniruddha Bose, Hrishikesh Roy and CT Ravikumar had reserved judgment in the matter on November 24, 2022, after elaborate arguments. As per the causelist, two judgments, each by Justices Joseph and Rastogi, will be pronounced tomorrow at 10.30 AM in the matter.

One of the suggestions made before the Court was to have a "collegium" comprising the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India and the Leader of Opposition to select Election Commissioners. The bench had observed that its concern was to ensure that the persons appointed are "above politics".

During the hearing, the bench had questioned the Union Government for clearing the appointment of Arun Goel as one of the Election Commissioners at a "lightning speed" when the hearing was underway. The bench asked the Attorney General for India to produce the files related to the appointment of Arun Goel.