Centre’s new Bill on Election Commission members’ appointments: How it plans to amend the process

With the view of overturning the effect of the Supreme Court verdict on the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners (ECs), a Bill was listed to be introduced in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday (August 10).

The Centre’s Bill seeks to establish a committee of the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and a Cabinet Minister nominated by the PM for selecting members of the Election Commission of India (ECI).

What was the SC ruling?

On March 2, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a high-power committee consisting of the Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, and the Chief Justice of India must pick the CEC and ECs.

The judgement by a bench led by Justice KM Joseph came in a 2015 public interest litigation, challenging the constitutional validity of the practice of the Centre-appointed members of the Election Commission. In 2018, a two-judge bench of the SC referred the case to a larger bench since it required a close examination of Article 324 of the Constitution, which deals with the role of a Chief Election Commissioner.

Article 324(2) reads: “The Election Commission shall consist of the Chief Election Commissioner and such number of other Election Commissioners, if any, as the President may from time-to-time fix and the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners shall, subject to the provisions of any law made in that behalf by Parliament, be made by the President.”

However, since there was no law made by Parliament as prescribed by the Constitution, the Court stepped in to fill the “constitutional vacuum.”