Bill takes away SC judge stature of ECs; former commissioners flag demotion

The Election Commission (Conditions of Services of Election Commissioners and Transactions of Business) Act of 1991 — in effect currently — says that the salary and other service conditions of the CEC and EC are equal to a judge of the Supreme Court.

The Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (appointment, conditions of service and term of office) Bill, 2023 introduced in Parliament in the Monsoon session reads under Clause 10 that the salary, allowances and other conditions of service of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners ‘shall be the same as those of the Cabinet Secretary’.

The new Bill also provides for an appointment process involving first a sub committee chaired by the Cabinet Secretary shortlisting a panel of names for the consideration of a final selection committee chaired by the Prime Minister and with the Leader of Opposition and a cabinet minister on board. This panel may or may not go with the sub committee’s recommendations.


The proposed Bill — pending final passage in Parliament — as also come under Opposition attack over exclusion of the Chief Justice of India in the Selection Committee, as recommended by the SC in an order earlier this year. Many CECs have earlier proposed a representative collegium-based system for EC appointments to ensure their independence.

Government sources, meanwhile, maintain that the Bill has made no change in the profile or order of precedence of the CEC and the salary of the CEC and EC is currently at 2.5 lakh per month- which is equivalent to both the Cabinet Secretary and the Chairperson UPSC.

Incidentally, the SC Judge/CEC parity was also taken away from the CIC and UPSC in 2018 and 2019 respectively - both objected strongly by the Opposition then.