The appointment of new Election Commissioners will not be blocked by the Supreme Court

In accordance with a recent rule that substituted a Union Cabinet Minister for the Chief Justice of India in the three-person selection panel, the Supreme Court on Friday declined to halt the appointment of the two new Election Commissioners.

The topic was raised twice. After senior counsel Vikas Singh pleaded on behalf of the petitioners to have the law stayed, a bench headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna informed Singh that “normally we do not stay by an interim order a legislation.”

Singh said, “There can be no transgression once this court has rendered a judgment.” He said that the administration had moved up the meeting for the next EC selection by one day. The Bench asked Singh to read the verdict’s directive, pointing out that it was decided that the three-person panel consisting of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and the Chief Justice would only function till Parliament passed a bill addressing the matter. Advocate Prashant Bhushan spoke on behalf of the petitioner Association for Democratic Reforms, arguing that in order to preserve a robust democracy, the poll panel should be free from executive and political meddling.

Singh said that the Supreme Court has previously halted ordinances in cases where its rulings were violated. The bench scheduled the case for hearing on March 21 after noting that the interlocutory motions for stays were not on file.

The news broke the day after Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu were named Election Commissioners by a panel headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in accordance with the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Condition of Service, and Term of Office) Act, 2023, which was published in the official gazette on December 28, 2023.

On March 9, Election Commissioner Arun Goel abruptly resigned. The Election Commission is prepared to release the calendar for the Lok Sabha elections on Saturday, having taken over the office on Friday after the appointment of new ECs. Earlier, on February 13, the highest court turned down a request to postpone the recently passed legislation appointing the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners. On the other hand, the Bench has sent notice to the Center on ADR’s PIL contesting the legality of the 2023 Act regarding the designation of the CEC and ECs.

The ADR has argued that the statute went against the ruling of the Constitution Bench, which mandated the CJI’s presence in the panel of three people chosen to choose the CEC and ECs. The Madhya Pradesh Congress leader Jaya Thakur filed a second PIL in January, contesting the statute on the grounds that it granted the Center broad authority by removing the Chief Justice of India from the panel of three judges. The Bench had already sent notice to the Center in this regard. In addition to Thakur, counsel Gopal Singh had also contested the law’s legitimacy.