Restrain Centre from appointing polls officers: A petition in SC seeks

New Delhi: A petition filed in the Supreme Court has sought to restrain the government from appointing the Election Commissioners, NDTV reported.

Congress leader Jaya Thakur approached the court ahead of the appointment of two Election Commissioners, which is expected to take place later this week.

The resignation of Arun Goel the other day and the retirement of Anup Chandra Pandey last month created two vacancies in Election Commission.

The President appoints Election Commissioners based on the recommendation of a three-member panel chaired by the Prime Minister.

The panel, according to the report, also includes a Union Minister and Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

The move to restrain the government comes as the high-powered committee is expected to finalise the appointment by March 15.

Jaya Thakur approached the court citing the 2023 order of the Constitution Bench which ruled that election commissioners must be appointed on the advice of a panel including the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and the Chief Justice of India.

Thakur called the new law unconstitutional and sought the direction of the court for the appointment of the commissioners in accordance with its previous decision.

Thakur said that having the Chief Justice on the panel will ensure transparency to the process.

However, the court in its 2023 order said the judgment would remain valid ‘until a law is made by the parliament’.

The new law that the government brought in December for a mechanism to appoint the Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners has the Chief Justice of India replaced with a Union Minister in the panel.