The Supreme Court on Thursday gave a historic verdict on the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners. The court ordered that a panel of the PM, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the CJI would appoint them. Earlier only the central government used to select them.
The 5-member bench said that this committee will recommend the names to the President. After this the President will seal. The High Court clearly stated in its order that this process will remain in force until the Parliament enacts a law regarding the appointment of Election Commissioners. The Supreme Court said in its decision that this selection process should be on the lines of the CBI Director.
The court said – it is necessary for the Election Commission to be independent
Justice KM Joseph said that for the survival of democracy, the fairness of the election process must be maintained. Otherwise it will not give good results. He said that the power of vote is supreme, due to which even the strongest parties can lose power. That's why it is necessary for the Election Commission to be independent. It is also necessary that it discharges its duties impartially, within the ambit of the law, as per the provisions of the Constitution and on the basis of court orders.
At present there is no law in the country ..... Know what is the process now
At present, there is no law in the country regarding the appointment of Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioner. The entire process of appointment is in the hands of the Central Government. According to the procedure followed till now, a list of officers of the rank of Secretary, existing or retired, is prepared.
Sometimes there are up to 40 names in this list. Based on this list, a panel is prepared of all the three names. These names are considered by the Prime Minister and the President. After this, the Prime Minister talks to the officers included in the panel and sends one name to the President. Along with these names, notes of the Prime Minister are also sent. In this, the reasons for the election of that person as the Election Commissioner are also given.
If seen, the government has a full role in this process. Their tenure is for 6 years or till the age of 65 years whichever is earlier. Election commissioners are elected through this process and the senior most among them is appointed as the chief election commissioner.
How many election 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 will be its number. After independence, there was only Chief Election Commissioner in the Election Commission in the country.
On 16 October 1989, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's government appointed two more Election Commissioners. This made the Election Commission a multi-member body. These appointments were made before the 9th general election. At that time it was said that this was done to undercut Chief Election Commissioner RVS Peri Shastri.
On 2 January 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.
Now understand when the controversy over the appointment of the Election Commissioner started.
In the year 2018, several petitions were filed regarding transparency in the functioning of the Election Commission. In these, there was a demand that a collegium-like system should be made for the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and the Election Commissioner (EC). The Supreme Court had clubbed all these petitions and sent it to a constitution bench of 5 judges. The Supreme Court was hearing this matter.
During the hearing, the Supreme Court questioned the appointment process of CEC and EC. Meanwhile, 1985 batch IAS Arun Goyal had taken VRS on November 18 from the post of Industries Secretary. He was to retire from this post on 31 December. Goyal was appointed as the Election Commissioner on 19 November. Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan has questioned this appointment by filing a petition.
Recently, the court had asked the center for the appointment file of the election commissioners in the matter. Following the court's order, the central government handed over the original file of the appointment of Election Commissioner Arun Goyal to the Supreme Court. After going through the file, the court told the Center – the file regarding the appointment of the Election Commissioner was cleared with lightning speed. What an assessment. The question is not on his qualification. We are questioning the appointment process.
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