The bill has been tabled in the Rajya Sabha.
A controversial bill to appoint the top three officials overseeing elections in the country has been taken up in the Rajya Sabha, but with substantial changes made by the government to address objections from various quarters.
The Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023, has been brought in following a Supreme Court judgment in March, which had ordered a panel comprising the Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India and the leader of the opposition for the selection of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners.
If there is no leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, a representative of the single-largest opposition party would be on the panel, the Supreme Court had said in response to petitions seeking a collegium-like system for the appointment of the election commissioners to ensure transparency.
Important changes have been made to the bill to protect election commissioners from abrupt removal. A key point of contention was the government's plan to replace the Chief Justice of India in the selection panel with a Union Minister.
The bill also drew protests over the proposal to strip the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners of the status of Supreme Court judges, and bring the salary of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners on par with that of the Cabinet Secretary.
Speaking after moving the bill, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said it contains a special provision for the protection of the Chief Election Commissioner and the Election Commissioners, and an earlier provision regarding their salaries has also been amended.
Mr Meghwal said a new clause, 15(A), has been added to the bill, which specifies that no civil or criminal proceedings can be initiated against the CEC and the ECs in the discharge of their official duties.
The law minister referred to the Supreme Court judgment of March 2 and said that the bench had ordered the formation of a selection panel until the Parliament makes a law and that the bill - which had earlier been presented on August 10 - is being brought under Article 324 (2) of the Constitution, which deals with the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners.
Mr Meghwal pointed out that the Election Commission (Conditions of Service of Election Commissioners and Transaction of Business) Act, 1991, did not have a clause for the appointment of the CEC and ECs. The amended bill, he added, also has a change in the composition of the initial search committee.
Status Retained
Sources had earlier told NDTV that while the government has kept the provision of replacing the Chief Justice of India with a Union Cabinet minister in the selection panel, it has decided to also retain the status of the Chief Election Commissioners and the Election Commissioners as equivalent to Supreme Court judges. This will also ensure protection for the Election Commissioners from removal except with a recommendation from the Chief Election Commissioner, which was a key demand of the former election body chiefs.
The bill had also proposed an initial search committee comprising the Cabinet secretary and two senior officials to prepare a panel of five names for consideration by the selection panel. Another key amendment that has now been made replaces the Cabinet secretary in this committee with the Union law minister.
The opposition has argued that replacing the Chief Justice of India with a Union Cabinet minister in the selection panel runs contrary to the judgment of the Supreme Court as it would place the power of picking the election commissioners back firmly in the hands of the executive, since it would have two of the three members in the committee.
Former Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi and other former election commissioners had also expressed concerns over the composition of the selection panel and the "downgrading" of the position of the election commissioners to the level of the cabinet secretary. He had, however, also said that the bill has many positive features, including setting qualifications for the selection of election commissioners.
"Till today, there was no qualification (prescribed), anyone from the street can be picked up and made an election commissioner which was not good. The new bill says that only secretary-rank officers or their equivalents will be posted which is a good thing," Mr Quraishi had said.
Speaking to NDTV today, Mr Quraishi said a detailed representation was made to the government on the bill as per the spirit of the Constitution.