In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court abolished the practise that had been popular since Independence by ordering that the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners be chosen by a three-member committee made up of the Prime Minister, the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, and the Chief Justice of India.
A five-judge constitution bench of Justices K M Joseph, Ajay Rastogi, Aniruddha Bose, Hrishikesh Roy and C T Ravikumar, in a unanimous verdict, disapproved of the present system of the Centre appointing members of the poll watchdog and brushed aside the government’s stiff opposition to judicial interference in its domain.
The bench said, “ECs, including the CEC, blessed with nearly infinite powers, must be chosen not by the executive exclusively and particularly without any objective yardstick,” it said.
In its verdict running into 378 pages, the bench said the appointment of CEC and ECs should be done in a manner so as not to frustrate their six-year tenure, saying that a short tenure also hampers the independence of the panel.
The Supreme Court said any perception that a “yes man” appointed by the Centre in the poll panel will decide the fate of democracy has to be removed and the commission should be made “fiercely independent, honest, competent and fair”. “We declare that as far as appointments to the posts of Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners are concerned, the same shall be done by the President of India on the basis of the advice tendered by a committee consisting of the Prime Minister, leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha and, in case, there is no such leader, the leader of the largest party in the opposition in the Lok Sabha, and the Chief Justice of India.