The Supreme Court is set to hear petitions on Wednesday questioning the validity of the appointment process for the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners (ECs) under the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023.
The legislation, passed by Parliament in December 2023, removed the Chief Justice of India (CJI) from the selection panel responsible for appointing ECs. This came after a Supreme Court ruling that recommended appointments be made by a committee consisting of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and the CJI until a formal law was enacted. The ruling aimed to ensure an independent and unbiased selection process.
The hearing follows the recent appointment of Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar as the new CEC, set to serve until January 26, 2029—just before the expected announcement of the Lok Sabha elections.
On Tuesday, senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan, representing an NGO, argued before a bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh that the government had ignored the 2023 ruling by excluding the CJI from the selection process, calling it a “mockery of democracy.”
The NGO, Association for Democratic Reforms, has challenged this exclusion, asserting that the Election Commission must remain insulated from political and executive influence to uphold democratic integrity.
Advocate Varun Thakur, appearing for petitioner Jaya Thakur, pointed out that the government had already made three appointments under the new law, which is currently under judicial scrutiny.
The bench assured Bhushan and other petitioners that after addressing urgent matters, it would prioritize the petitions related to the appointment process.
Meanwhile, alongside Gyanesh Kumar’s appointment, Vivek Joshi, a 1989-batch IAS officer from the Haryana cadre, has also been appointed as an election commissioner, with his tenure set to continue until 2031.
Under the existing law, a Chief Election Commissioner or Election Commissioner retires at 65 or completes a tenure of six years.
The recent appointments were made by a selection panel chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which also recommended the inclusion of former IAS officers Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Sandhu as Election Commissioners in 2024.
