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Polity & Governance
Mahesh

13/01/24 06:42 AM IST

SC refuses to stay new law excluding CJI from panel picking CEC, ECs

In News
  • The Supreme Court  declined a request for an interim stay of the new law excluding the Chief Justice of India from the panel to select the chief election commissioner (CEC) and election commissioners (ECs).
Article 324
  • Article 324(2) of the Constitution says that the CEC and ECs shall be appointed by the President, with aid and advice of the Council of Ministers, till Parliament enacts a law fixing the criteria for selection and conditions of service and tenure.
  • Subsequently, the government enacted a new law — The Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023 — excluding the CJI from the selection panel.
  • This was challenged before the Supreme Court who contended that the new law does not provide an “independent mechanism” for the appointment of the members of the Election Commission of India and is thus violative of the principle of free and fair elections.
  • The petitioners argued that the new law also went against the 2023 Supreme Court five-judge bench ruling which restricted the government’s power to appoint CEC and ECs.
  • The plea said that the new law has diluted the Supreme Court judgment by keeping the CJI out of the process of selection.
  • It pointed out that the Supreme Court had in the past held that “mandamus issued by” it “cannot be overruled by the legislature and separation of power is also the basic structure of the Constitution.
Powers of ECs
  • The Supreme Court in ‘Mohinder Singh Gill & Anr vs The Chief Election Commissioner, New Delhi and Ors’ (1977) held that Article 324 “operates in areas left unoccupied by legislation and the words ‘superintendence, direction and control’ as well as ‘conduct of all elections’ are the broadest terms”.
  • The Constitution has not defined these terms.
  • Article 324 “is a plenary provision vesting the whole responsibility for national and State elections” in the ECI “and, therefore, the necessary powers to discharge that function”.
  • The Election Commission (Conditions of Service of Election Commissioners and Transaction of Business) Act, 1991 (EC Act) requires that the EC and CEC must hold the post for a period of six years. This law essentially governs the conditions of service of the CEC and ECs.
Source- Indian Express

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