EC Selection Panel Meeting Violation of SC Judgment: Congress
Congress leaders addressed a press conference on EC Selection Panel (Image credit INC India)
EC Selection Committee Meeting Be Postponed, demands Congress
By Amit Kumar
New Delhi, February 17: The Congress on Monday urged upon the government to postpone the meeting of the selection panel for the Chief Election Commissioner. The Opposition alleged that the constitution of the selection panel is in violation of the 2023 Supreme Court judgment.
“It is our submission that the Chief Election Commissioner and the Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Office, Terms of Office), Act 2023 which constitutes this Committee creates a partisan and non-neutral mechanism for the selection of Election Commissioners,” said Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
He stated that “at the outset, we cannot ignore that this Committee is in clear and direct violation of the Supreme Court’s Judgement of March 2nd, 2023 where a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in Anoop Baranwal v. Union of India declared that the CEC and the EC’s should be appointed by a Committee comprising of the PM, the LOP & the CJI”.
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He stressed that “the Court, highlighting the need for the independence of the Committee that appoints Election Commissioners, had made clear observations regarding the role of the Executive i.e. the Central Government”.
“The Executive alone being involved in the appointment, ensures that the Commission becomes and remains a partisan Body and a branch of the Executive. The independence of the Commission is intimately interlinked with the process of appointment,” Singhvi quoted from the judgment of the apex court.
He further quoted from the judgment which stated that the “Election Commissioners including the Chief Election Commissioner blessed with nearly infinite powers and who are to abide by the fundamental rights must be chosen not by the Executive exclusively and particularly without any objective yardstick”.
“In order to allow independence in the functioning of the Election Commission as a Constitutional body, the office of Chief Election Commissioners as well as the Election Commissioners have to be insulated from the executive interference,” Singhvi quoted from the judgment while demanding that the scheduled meeting of the panel be postponed.
The Congress leader charged that “this Committee which has been purposefully balanced, or unbalanced if we may say so, with a two third vote being given to the Centre directly offends clear and precise caveats of the Supreme Court of India”.
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“It is therefore neither bona fide in its purpose or constitution,” added Singh, who quoted from the SC judgment, adding “like the Judiciary, the Election Commission must display fearless independence”.
“In the absence of norms regarding the appointment, a central norm, viz., institutional integrity is adversely affected. An independent appointment mechanism would guarantee eschewing of even the prospect of bias,” added the Congress leader.
Singhvi stated that the “Constitution of this Committee suggests that the objective of the Central Government is to the opposite. It wants to ensure the creation of a Committee that will only allow the appointment of such candidates that will never threaten its existence.”
He asked, “why else would the Supreme Court’s direction to have the Chief Justice on the Committee be dropped”. “No answer has been given, either within Parliament or outside. The case challenging the Act is currently pending before the Supreme Court which has issued notice on the same,” added Singhvi.
He informed that “the matter is listed for February 19th, 2025 i.e. in less than 48 hours”. “It is our suggestion that the Central Government adjourn this meeting until after the hearing and instruct its counsels to appear and assist the court so that the hearing may be an effective one”.
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