Several Opposition leaders have criticised the Bill on the appointment and service conditions of the chief election commissioner (CEC) and election commissioners (ECs) at an all-party meeting as “anti-Constitution” and “anti-democratic”.
Official sources told PTI that there is a rethink in the government on whether to take up the Bill for discussion and passage in the five-day session, beginning Monday, 18 September.
The Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023, had featured among the four bills listed by the government a few days back for being taken up in the session.
However, criticism, including from a few former CECs and ECs, of some of its provisions might have made the government reconsider its decision.
“We are yet to take a final call,” a source said on Sunday, 17 September, when asked if the government will push for its passage during the session.
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The contentious Bill
The Bill seeks to replace the Chief Justice of India with a Cabinet minister in the panel for selection of the CEC and ECs, in a move that will allow the government to have more control over the appointment of members of the poll panel.
The Bill also said that salary, allowances and other service conditions of the CEC and ECs will be the same as that of the Cabinet Secretary, a change from their current parity with a Supreme Court judge. Critics have said it amounts to diluting the authority of the poll watchdog.
The Bill comes months after the Supreme Court in March ruled that a three-member panel, headed by the prime minister and comprising the leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India, will select the CEC and ECs till a law is framed by Parliament on the appointment of these commissioners.
According to the Bill, tabled by Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal in the Rajya Sabha in August, a three-member Selection Committee comprising the prime minister, who will be the chairperson, the LoP and a Union Cabinet minister, who would be nominated by the prime minister, shall select the CEC and ECs.
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Opposition condemns the bill
The Bill was introduced amid an uproar by the opposition parties, including the Congress, Trinamool Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, and the Left parties, that accused the government of “diluting and overturning” a Supreme Court Constitution Bench order.
Opposition leaders spoke against the Bill at an all-party meeting convened by the government on Sunday, on the eve of the five-day Parliament session.
The BJP, however, said the government is well within its right to bring the Bill.
“Read the Supreme Court judgment. It suggested a transient method for the appointment of the CEC in the absence of a statutory mechanism. The government is well within its right to bring in a bill for the same,” BJP’s IT department head Amit Malviya posted on X, formerly Twitter.
‘Can be a tricky situation’
A vacancy will arise in the Election Commission of India (ECI) early next year when Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey demits office on 15 February on attaining the age of 65.
“The salary is the same at ₹2.50 lakh per month. But the CEC and the ECs now stand equated to the Cabinet Secretary and not judges of the SC,” explained a functionary.
He said once the Bill is cleared by Parliament, in the order of precedence, the CEC and the ECs will be ranked below a minister of state.
“Since the CEC and the ECs will be equivalent to the cabinet secretary and not a judge of the Supreme Court, they may be treated as bureaucrats. It can be a tricky situation during the conduct of elections,” the functionary felt.
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