NEW DELHI: Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna on Tuesday recused from hearing a batch of petitions challenging the validity of the law relating to the appointment of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners. A bench of CJI Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar was scheduled to hear the case today however when the matter came up for hearing the CJI chose to recuse.
“List the matter before a bench of which I am not a part of,” said the CJI directing that the matter be listed in the week commencing on January 6, 2025. It asked parties to complete their pleadings by then. Earlier this year Justice Khanna-led bench had declined to put on hold the two Election Commissioners’ appointment under the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which dropped the Chief Justice of India from the selection panel for Election Commissioners.
It had dismissed all the applications seeking a stay on the appointment of two Election Commissioners saying elections are around the corner and a stay on the appointment would result in “chaos and uncertainty”.
The pleas were filed in the apex court seeking a stay on the Act by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Jaya Thakur (General Secretary of the Madhya Pradesh Mahila Congress Committee), Sanjay Narayanrao Meshram, Dharmendra Singh Kushwaha, advocate Gopal Singh.
At that time the apex court had refused to stay the operation of the Election Commissioner Act, 2023 and issued notice to the Centre and sought the response in April.
The pleas challenged the Election Commissioners’ law that has dropped the Chief Justice of India from the selection panel for appointing CEC and other Election Commissioners (ECs).
The petitions stated that the provisions of the enactment, are violative of the principle of free and fair elections since it does not provide an “independent mechanism” for the appointment of the members of the Election Commission of India (ECI).
The petitions said the Act excludes the Chief Justice of India from the process of appointment of the members of ECI and it’s in violation of the March 2, 2023 verdict of the top court which had ordered that the appointment of members of the ECI be done on the advice of a committee comprising the Prime Minister, the CJI and the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha till a law is made by the Parliament.
By excluding the CJI from the process, the judgement of the Supreme Court stands diluted as the Prime Minister and his nominee will always be “the deciding factor” in the appointments, said the petitions.
The petitions in particular challenged Sections 7 and 8 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023. The provisions lay down the procedure for the appointment of ECI members.
They sought direction from the Centre to include the Chief Justice of India in the selection committee for the appointment of the CEC and ECs which currently comprises the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the Prime Minister.
The Act replaced the Election Commission (Conditions of Service of Election Commissioners and Transaction of Business) Act, 1991. (ANI)