Supreme Court refuses to stay appointment of new Election Commissioners, dismisses applications

The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to order a stay on the appointment of two new Election Commissioners and dismissed the applications filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms, Congress leader Jaya Thakur and others. The writ petitions had challenged the constitutional validity of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which dropped the Chief Justice of India from the selection panel.

“Now they have been appointed, elections are around the corner…it is a question of balance of convenience. There are no allegations against persons appointed,” a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta pointed out and expressed reluctance to stay the appointments at this stage. The court, however, assured the petitioners that their arguments would be examined at a later stage.

Passed in the Lok Sabha on December 21 and the Rajya Sabha on December 12, the EC Appointments Act replaced the Election Commission (Conditions of Service of Election Commissioners and Transaction of Business) Act, 1991, introducing key changes to the appointment, salary, and removal procedures for top election officials.

As per the Act, the President of India would appoint the election commissioners on the strength of a selection committee’s recommendation, prepared after considering a list of candidates proposed by a search committee headed by the Union Law Minister. According to Section 7, the selection committee would consist of the Prime Minister, a Union Cabinet Minister, and the Leader of the Opposition or the leader of the largest Opposition party in the Lok Sabha.

The Act was brought after a Constitution bench of the Supreme Court ruled that Election Commissioners are to be appointed by the President of India on the advice of a committee consisting of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition or the largest opposition party’s leader, and the Chief Justice of India. The Act brought by the Centre, however, removed the CJI from the selection panel, replacing him with a Union minister.

A day before the Lok Sabha election schedule was announced by the ECI, President Droupadi Murmu notified the appointments of former IAS Officers Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu as members of the Election Commission. They were nominated by a committee comprising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.