The Supreme Court today gave split opinions on whether petitions challenging the validity of a 2023 law that excludes the Chief Justice of India from the panel to select the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners (EC) should be referred to a larger bench.
Justice Datta cited a cricket analogy on the executive’s influence in the appointment of election commissioners. “If the team that is to bat selects the umpire itself, questions regarding impartiality will inevitably arise. “Such an umpire would always be suspected of being loyal to that team.
On March 2, 2023, in a landmark verdict aimed at insulating the appointment of the CEC and ECs from the executive’s interference, a five-judge Constitution bench had ruled that their appointments will be made by the President on the advice of a committee comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India.
Even if the umpire makes the correct decision, their impartiality will remain under a cloud of suspicion,” he said. The process of appointing election commissioners should also be free from such a situation, ensuring there is no doubt regarding their independence and impartiality,” the judge said.
The split verdict comes on a day the Indian Express newspaper in a report said two election commissioners “objected on record” several decisions taken by the poll body allegedly without their knowledge. In a statement, the ECI today said all decisions taken by it in the last one year were unanimous and that “differing views and observations are a normal part of deliberation in any institution.”
