Lok Sabha passes bill to regulate appointment of chief election commissioner, top poll officials. Details here

The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the bill to regulate the appointment of the chief election commissioner and other election commissioners. The new bill seeks to establish a mechanism to appoint the top election officials.

The Lok Sabha passed the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023 after a brief discussion. The Rajya Sabha has already given its nod to the bill. 

The bill provides details related to the appointment, qualifications, search committee, selection committee, term of office, salary, resignation and removal, leave, and pension of the chief election commissioner and other election commissioners.

Calling the Election Commission (Conditions of Service of Election Commissioners and Transaction of Business) Act, 1991 a ‘half-baked attempt’ on the service conditions of the CEC and the ECs, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said the present bill covers the areas left out by the previous legislations. The bill was then passed by a voice vote.

Row over chief election commissioner bill

Members of the opposition who participated in the debate on the bill opposed the process of the appointment of CEC and ECs. As many as 97 of their members remain suspended for "misconduct" for the remainder of the winter session.

The apex court had ruled that the appointment of CEC and ECs shall be made by the president based on the advice tendered by a committee consisting of the prime minister, the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, or the leader of the largest opposition party in the House and the chief justice of India. Meghwal said the judgment had noted that the norm provided by the Supreme Court will continue to hold good till a law is made by Parliament.

"We are bringing the law for this purpose," he said. An amendment in the bill will ensure that the search committee will be headed by the law minister instead of the cabinet secretary.

As per the provisions of the bill, the CEC and ECs will be appointed by the president of India on the recommendation of a selection committee. However, the panel will consist of three members – the prime minister, the Union cabinet minister, and the leader of the opposition.

According to the Opposition, the amended bill would lead to the appointment of a ‘Yes Man’ as CEC, as two of the three members of the selection committee are the PM and the cabinet minister.

Opposition members have called the amendment as "one of the biggest blows to democracy" by the Narendra Modi government in the last nine years.