New Delhi: The Lok Sabha on Thursday (December 21) passed the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023 that provides for the appointment, salary and removal of the chief election commissioner (CEC) and election commissioners (ECs).The Bill was first introduced during the monsoon session in August and came months after a constitution bench of the Supreme Court ruled in March that election commissioners should be appointed by the president based on advice from a committee comprising the prime minister, the leader of opposition (LOP) in the Lok Sabha and the chief justice of India (CJI).Bill passed in less than two hours with 12 MPs speakingThe Bill’s passage in the Lok Sabha on Thursday took place after a debate that lasted about an hour and 40 minutes, and in the absence of the 97 opposition MPs who have been suspended for demanding a statement from Union home minister Amit Shah on the parliament security breach last week.After the Bill was passed, another three members of the opposition were suspended, taking the total number of suspensions in the Lok Sabha to 100, and those in both houses to 146.The debate saw the participation of 12 MPs, mostly from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other parties friendly to it, including the YSRCP, Shiv Sena, BJD and TDP.The only speaker that opposed the Bill in the Lok Sabha was AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi.The other speakers were Chinta Anuradha (YSRCP), Rahul Ramesh Shewale (Shiv Sena), Sanjay Seth (BJP), Bhartruhari Mahtab (BJD), Shankar Lalwani (BJP), Sanjay Seth, (BJP), Kirit Premjibhai Solanki (BJP), Jayadev Galla (TDP), Sudhir Gupta (BJP), Dilip Ghosh (BJP) and Rajiv Pratap Rudy (BJP).“Important task for executive”While concerns have been raised that the Bill endangers free and fair elections by giving overt control to the executive, Union minister for law and justice Arjun Ram Meghwal said that the legislation was an “important task for the executive”.“I have brought this Bill as this was an important task for the executive. The architects of our constitution also enshrined the separation of powers in Article 50, in which it was stated that the executive will do the executive’s work, the judiciary will do the judiciary’s work and the legislature will do the legislature’s work.”“This Bill is a step in that direction,” he said while introducing it for consideration and passage.The legislation states that the CEC and the ECs (the number of ECs will be determined periodically by the president) will be appointed by the president based on the recommendations of a selection committee.The committee consists of the prime minister, a cabinet minister and the LOP in the Lok Sabha (or the leader of the single largest opposition party).The Bill (which has been amended after its introduction in the Rajya Sabha in August) now provides for the law minister to head the search committee tasked with proposing five names to the selection committee. In addition, the selection committee also holds the authority to consider individuals beyond those suggested by the search committee.In his speech during the debate, Owaisi said that the Bill will bring into question the impartiality of the Election Commission.Also read | ‘Umpire Cannot be Subordinate to Team Captain’: Election Commissioners Bill Raises QuestionsOpposing the Bill, Owaisi said that “if voters start feeling that the [election commission] is not an impartial and non-partisan body, the legitimacy of our democracy comes into question.”“This Bill is being brought in to create an Election Commission which will work in the shadow of the Prime Minister, Shri Modi,” he said.Referring to the search committee’s composition, Owaisi said that apart from the LOP, every other member was a part of the ruling party or government.“Anyone with independent thought will not be accepted and the allegation of bias will be difficult to defeat.”However, during his remarks at the close of the debate, Meghwal said that it is an “executive function to appoint the chief election commissioner.”Referring to concerns raised that the legislation goes against the Supreme Court’s March order, Meghwal said that it was only a “stop-gap measure”.Referring to Article 324 (2), Meghwal said that the appointment of the CEC and ECs will be done by an act of parliament. “This was not paid attention to. In 1991 an Act was made but appointment was left. The 1991 Act was called the Election Commission (Conditions of Service of Election Commissioners and Transaction of Business) Act.“Then a PIL was filed in the Supreme Court and then the court gave a stop-gap measure in its March order, which also included a direction that until the parliament makes a law in consonance with Article 324 (2), this will be a stop-gap arrangement, and made a committee.“We have brought the Bill on the basis of the Supreme Court order. To say that the Supreme Court had said something else and the government is doing something else is wrong. We are following the directions of the Supreme Court and have brought this Bill,” he said.The Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha on December 12 with the opposition staging a walkout in protest against what they have described as executive overreach and a chipping away of the independence of the Election Commission.
