The Supreme Court, in a five-judge constitution bench, ruled that Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners will henceforth be appointed by a commission that would comprise the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, and the Chief Justice of India. This ruling comes in response to a Public Interest Litigation filed in this regard.
This judgment comes at a time when the General Elections are only a year away. The bench was headed by Justice KM Joseph and included four other judges namely Ajay Rastogi, Aniruddha Bose, Hrishikesh Roy, and CT Ravikumar. The CEC and ECs prior to this ruling were appointed by the President on the advice of the Council of Ministers.
The Constitution does not contain detailed provisions regarding the appointment or powers of the Election Commissioner. The powers and scope of the EC have instead been dealt with in two separate pieces of legislation called the Representation of People’s Act 1950 and the Representation of People’s Act 1951.
Article 324(1) says- The superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of electoral rolls for, and the conduct of,all elections of parliament and to the legislatures of all states and of elections of offices of President and Vice-President help under this constitution shall be vested in a Commission, referred to in this constitution as the Election Commission.
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.
As can be seen above, the Constitution majorly remains silent on the process or method of election of the CEC and ECs.
Meanwhile, the esteemed court said that the founding fathers of the Constitution left it to Parliament to frame the law for the appointment of Chief Election Commissioner and ECs but political dispensations betrayed the trust and the law has not been framed in the last seven decades.
The court also said that democracy is fragile and would collapse if lip service is paid to rule of law
