India, the largest democracy in the world, is on the verge of breaking from tradition in the matter involving the appointment of a new chief of the Election Commission of India (ECI). The current Chief Election Commissioner, Rajiv Kumar (Retd.IAS:1984:JH), is poised to relinquish office on February 18, and for the first time, an outsider (other than the two serving Election Commissioners) may have an opportunity to head the Commission now.
As per the new Act, enacted by the Modi government in 2023, the Search Committee will be preparing a panel of five names for the appointment of CEC. The Election Commission at present comprises the CEC and two election commissioners—Gyanesh Kumar (Retd.IAS:1988:KL) and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu (Retd.IAS:1988:UK) .
Section 6 of the new Act specifies this process for the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners. According to the Act, the candidates for the CEC’s post would be current or former Secretary-level officers.
According to the Act, the Ministry of Law will set up a Search Committee chaired by the Law Minister to prepare a panel of five names for the Selection Committee that comprises the Prime Minister, a Cabinet minister, and the Leader of Opposition to take a final call. The Selection Committee is empowered to either select from this panel or consider any one from outside.
The importance of this Act lies in the fact that even as EC Gyanesh Kumar remains a potential candidate for this post, the Act gives the Selection Committee an option of considering names from outside the Election Commission.
This development is of paramount significance as it has come at a time when the Election Commission is facing the tremendous heat from the Opposition parties over a range of issues, from the purity of electoral rolls to the efficacy of EVMs. According to a Law Ministry official, the process of panel preparation is yet to begin.
