Upper House passes bill on appointing CEC and ECs

The Rajya Sabha on Tuesday passed the bill to regulate the appointment conditions of the chief election commissioner and other election commissioners with voice vote. The Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on August 10, 2023.

Union law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said this bill has been brought to make amendments to the 1991 Act because the earlier Act didn't have a clause regarding appointment of the CEC and ECs.

Meghwal quoted Sec-324 (2) of the Constitution which said that a law should be made by Parliament.


The Supreme Court, in a judgement on a PIL in March this year, said that until the government formed a law on this, the selection panel of CEC and ECs will have three members - the PM, the Leader of Opposition and the CJI.

Several Opposition leaders said that the government has defied the Supreme Court judgement by removing the chief justice of India from the panel and replacing it with a cabinet minister.

"We have brought this bill as per the direction of the Supreme Court and there is no violation of the apex court judgement," Meghwal said in the House. "Earlier, the names of the appointees were decided by the government but now a search and selection committee has also been constituted, and the matter related to salary has also been introduced through an amendment in the bill."

The Opposition members raised questions on the intent of the bill to compromise the independence of the election commission. "It completely negates and subjugates the election commission to the authority of the executive and it does away willingly, maliciously the judgement of the Supreme Court and that is why this law is per se like a stillborn child," Congress MP Randeep Surjewala said while speaking on the bill. He also claimed that the appointment committee has been reduced to an "empty formality" as it comprises the prime minister and members nominated by him.

The Opposition members largely raised a question on the selection panel and demanded that the bill be sent to a Select Committee of Parliament.

BJP MP Ghanshyam Tiwari, in his speech, welcomed the bill and raised questions on earlier governments failing to enact a law over the appointment of the CEC and ECs.

DMK leader Tiruchi Siva demanded that the bill should be sent to the select committee for scrutiny. AAP leader Raghav Chaddha alleged that the government is trying to control all constitutional institutions and the current bill is another tool by the government to control the election commission.