New Delhi2 hours ago
In December 2023, the Central Government passed a bill removing the CJI from the panel for appointment of the Election Commissioner and including a Union Minister. Congress workers have filed a petition against this in the Supreme Court.
The case related to the appointment of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioner (EC) will be heard in the Supreme Court from today. On December 4, Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna recused himself from the hearing, after which a new bench was formed to hear the case.
This hearing is related to the historic decision of the Supreme Court given on March 2, 2023, in which it was said that the CEC and EC will be appointed by a three-member panel. This will include the Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
This decision was given by a 5-member bench of the Supreme Court. CJI Sanjeev Khanna was also included in this bench, who was the Supreme Court Justice at that time.
However, on 21 December 2023, the government passed a new bill, in which the Chief Justice was removed from the panel and it was decided to replace him with a Union Minister chosen by the Prime Minister.
Congress worker Jaya Thakur has filed a petition in the Supreme Court against this decision of the Central Government. Despite this controversy, the Center had appointed Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu as Election Commissioners in March 2024.
A three-member committee headed by the Prime Minister had appointed former IAS officers Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Sandhu as Election Commissioners on March 14, 2024.
Now know what is the whole matter…
March 2, 2023: Supreme Court’s decision – It is necessary to include CJI in the selection panel. In its decision on the appointment of CEC and EC, the Supreme Court said that the election commissioners will be appointed by a panel. This will also include the Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the CJI. Earlier, only the central government used to select them.
This committee will recommend the names of CEC and EC to the President. After this the President will put his seal of approval. Only then will he be appointed.
The court also said that this process will remain in force until the Parliament makes any law regarding the appointment of election commissioners.
21 December 2023: New bill related to appointment of election commissioners passed in both houses of Parliament.
The central government brought a new bill related to the appointment, service, conditions and tenure of CEC and EC. Under this, the election commissioners will be appointed by a panel of three members. It will include the Prime Minister, the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha and a cabinet minister.
The CJI was kept out of the panel. This bill was passed in both the houses during the winter session on 21 December 2023.
The opposition had lodged an objection to the new law Opposition parties said that the government is weakening the Supreme Court by bringing the bill against the order of the Constitution bench. Earlier, the Supreme Court had said in an order in March 2023 that the CEC should be appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India and the Leader of the Opposition.
New law violates Supreme Court decision Congress activist Jaya Thakur has alleged in her petition that Sections 7 and 8 are a violation of the principle of free and fair elections as it does not provide for an independent mechanism for the appointment of Election Commission members.
It has also been said in the petition that this law was made to overturn the March 2023 decision of the Supreme Court, which had taken away the powers of the Central Government to appoint CEC and EC unilaterally. This is a practice which has been going on since the independence of the country.
How many commissioners can there be in the Election Commission? No number has been fixed in the Constitution regarding the number of Election Commissioners. Article 324 (2) of the Constitution states that the Election Commission may consist of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners. It depends on the President what their number will be. After independence, there was only Chief Election Commissioner in the Election Commission in the country.
On 16 October 1989, the government of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi appointed two more Election Commissioners. This made the Election Commission a multi-member body. These appointments were made before the 9th general elections. At that time it was said that this was done to malign Chief Election Commissioner RVS Perry Shastri.
On January 2, 1990, the VP Singh government amended the rules and made the Election Commission a single-member body again. On October 1, 1993, the PV Narasimha Rao government again approved the appointment of two more Election Commissioners through an ordinance. Since then the Election Commission consists of two Election Commissioners along with the Chief Election Commissioner.
Also read this news related to Supreme Court…
Justice Sanjiv Khanna becomes the 51st Chief Justice of the country: Tenure of six months; During this period, 5 big cases including marital rape will be heard.
Justice Sanjeev Khanna has become the 51st Chief Justice of the country. On 11 November, President Draupadi Murmu administered the oath to him at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud retired on 10 November.
It is noteworthy that the tenure of Justice Khanna will be only for 6 months. Justice Khanna, 64, will retire on May 13, 2025. As a Supreme Court judge, Justice Khanna has written 65 judgments. During this period he has been a part of about 275 benches. Read the full news…
