New Delhi: Among the series of bills being passed by the parliament in the houses, with 143 MPs suspended and with scanty if any debates in the houses, it took only a brief discussion on Thursday before the Lok Sabha passed a Bill that seeks to establish the mechanism to appoint the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners.
The Rajya Sabha has already given its nod to the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023.
Responding to the debate, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said the 1991 Act on the service conditions of the CEC and the ECs was a half-baked attempt and the present Bill covers the areas left out by the previous legislations.
A brief history of the bill would show that till March 2023, the government had been recommending the CEC and EC's to the President who would then appoint them. In March 2023, the Supreme Court struck down the selection panel on the grounds that it would run counter to the separation of powers of the executive and the legislative.
The court ruled that a panel of three, the prime minister leading the panel, the leader of the Opposition in parliament and the Chief Justice of India would make the recommendation of ECs and SEC to the President thereby averting the sole say of the government determining the Election Commission members. The court also ruled that till a new law came into effect, this would hold good.
In the current bill, the government replaced the Chief Justice of India in the selection panel with a cabinet minister nominated by the Prime Minister to recommend the CEC. Now with the the nod of both houses, the bill is set to become law once the President gives her assent.
(Inputs from PTI)