The Supreme Court on Thursday (02.03.2023) said that the appointment of Election Commissioners (ECs) and Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) shall be done by the President on the recommendation of the committee consisting of the Prime Minister, Leader of the opposition and Chief Justice of India. The court also added that if the LoP is not there, then the leader of the single largest opposition party in Lok Sabha will be in committee to appoint ECs and CEC.
In a unanimous verdict, a constitutional bench led by Justice KM Joseph, which includes Justices Ajay Rastogi, Aniruddha Bose, Hrishikesh Roy, and CT Ravikumar, held that this norm would remain in effect until Parliament makes a law on the subject.
The top court had reserved its judgement on a batch of pleas seeking a collegium-like system for the appointment of ECs and CEC on November 24 2022.
The petitions sought the creation of an independent collegium or selection committee for future appointments of CEC and two other ECs in the Election Commission of India. On October 23, 2018, SC referred PILs to the Constitution bench.
In another unanimous verdict relating to Election Commissioners, the Supreme Court on Thursday said that the process of removal of ECs shall be the same as that of the Chief Election Commissioner—Impeachment.
