Lok Sabha passes Bill on appointment of Chief Election Commissioner, Election Commissioners

The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023..The Bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on August 10 by Minister of State for Law & Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal in the wake of the Supreme Court judgment that had noted the legal vacuum as regards appointment of Election Commissioners. The Supreme Court judgment dated March 2, 2023, had said that until the Central government comes up with a law on appointments to the Election Commission of India (ECI), the appointments should be done on the advice of a committee comprising the PM, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.The upper house then passed the Bill on December 12. Consequently, it was introduced in Lok Sabha today..Notably, on December 11, the government proposed certain amendments to the bill.The original bill prescribed that the search committee would consist of the Cabinet Secretary and two members not below the rank of Secretary to the Government of India. The proposed amendment has replaced 'Cabinet Secretary' with the term, 'Minister of Law and Justice.'Further, the amendment has proposed that allowances and service conditions of the CEC and ECs would be on par with those of Supreme Court judges.It has also suggested that the removal of the CEC should follow the process akin to the removal of Supreme Court judges. Additionally, it states that ECs cannot be removed from office without the recommendation of the CEC.Furthermore, a newly proposed clause 15A in the Bill asserts that no court can entertain civil or criminal proceedings against any person who is or was the CEC or an EC for any act, thing, or word committed, done, or spoken by them in the discharge of their official duties..Recently, former Supreme Court judge Justice Rohinton Nariman had said that the bill could seriously jeopardise the independence of the Election Commission of India (ECI).Justice Nariman had said that if the bill becomes law, the executive will have the final say in appointing CEC and ECs, which would affect free and fair elections."If you are going to get the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners appointed in this fashion, free and fair elections are going to become a chimera," he had said..Responding to concerns about excessive interference of the Executive in appointing the CEC and other ECs, Arjun Ram Meghwal cited the doctrine of separation of powers enshrined in Article 50 of the Indian Constitution and maintained that the appoinment of the CEC and ECs was an Executive function..[Read the Bill as passed by Rajya Sabha]