While the Union government is tasked with appointing a new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) for the first time after the new law was passed in 2023, the Supreme Court will be examining the law on appointing members of the Election Commission. The reason: the validity of the law has been challenged following the exclusion of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) as a member of the selection panel. The matter is scheduled for the apex court hearing on Feb 4.
The new CEC is to be appointed as current CEC Rajiv Kumar will be demitting office on February 18. For the first time, the new law will be applied for appointing the CEC
Before the new law on the appointment of CEC and ECs came into force in December 2023, the election commissioners were being appointed by the President as per the recommendation of the Union government. And a convention was followed to appoint the senior-most Election Commissioner as CEC.
But on March 2, 2023, a Supreme Court bench set up a panel of three comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition and the Chief Justice of India (CJI) to appoint the CEC and election commissioners.
But the Modi government brought the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, which was passed into an Act in December 2023. In the new law, the CJI was dropped from the selection panel and a Union Minister, (a PM’s nominee) was included as the third member of the selection panel.
This change in the composition of the selection committee has been challenged. While posting the matter for February 4, a top court bench said it would see whose views had supremacy.
