APPOINTMENT OF CHIEF ELECTION COMMISSIONER

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General Studies Paper-2:

(Reforms related to Election Commission)

Why inNews:

  • Recently, the Supreme Court has given a decision to appoint the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners by a three-member committee.
  • The court has taken this decision in the context of maintaining the purity of the elections in a democracy.

Main points:

  • The decision was taken unanimously by a five-judge constitution bench headed by Justice KM Joseph.
  • The constitution bench also includes Justice Ajay Rastogi, Justice Aniruddha Bose, Justice Hrishikesh Rai and Justice CT Ravikumar.
  • The bench pronounced the judgment on the basis of petitions seeking a collegium-like system for the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners.
  • The selection process of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners should be on the lines of the CBI Director.
  • The Supreme Court has given this decision with the aim of protecting the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners from the interference of the executive.
  • The Constitution Bench, referring to Article 324of the Constitution relating to the appointment of members of the Election Commission, said that the Parliament has not passed any law regarding the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners as required by the Constitution.
  • Now the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners will be appointed by the President on the advice of a committee consisting of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India.
  • The Constitution Bench said that if there is no Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, then the leader of the largest opposition party will be included in the committee on the appointment of Election Commissioners and Chief Election Commissioner.
  • This selection process of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners will continue until the Parliament makes a law on this issue.

Till now what was the basis of selection process of Election Commissioners in Election Commission:

  • As per Article 324(2), the Election Commission consists of the Chief Election Commissioner and the Election Commissioners. Their appointments shall be made by the President subject to the provisions of any law made in this behalf by Parliament.
  • According to Attorney General R VenkataRamani, a list of retired secretary-level officers is prepared for appointment as commissioners in the Election Commission. A panel of these names is formed which is sent to the Prime Minister and the President. In this panel, the Prime Minister recommends any one name. After this the approval of the President is taken.

Regarding the number of Election Commissioners:

  • No number has been fixed in the constitution regarding the number of election commissioners in the election commission. Article 324(2) of the Constitution states that the Election Commission may consist of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners. It depends on the President what will be its number. After independence, there was only Chief Election Commissioner in the Election Commission in the country.
  • On 16 October 1989, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's governmentappointed two more Election Commissioners. This made the Election Commission a multi-member body. These appointments were made before the 9th general election. At that time the purpose of making the Election Commission a multi-member body was to control the functions of Chief Election Commissioner RVS PeriShastri.
  • On January 2, 1990, the VP Singh government amended the rules and made the Election Commission a single member body again. On 1 October 1993, the PV Narasimha Rao government again approved the appointment of two more Election Commissioners through an ordinance. Since then the Election Commission consists of two Election Commissioners along with the Chief Election Commissioner.

Tenure and other provisions of the Election Commissioners:

  • Their tenure is for 6 years or till the age of 65 years (whichever is earlier).
  • These Election Commissioners are provided with the same salary and allowances as the judges of the Supreme Court.
  • The qualification of the members of the Election Commission has not been prescribed in the constitution.
  • The Chief Election Commissioner gets full freedom and security to work in his fixed term.
  • The Chief Election Commissioner can be removed from his post only on the same grounds on which the judges of the Supreme Court are removed, not otherwise.
  • In other words, he can be removed by the President on the ground of misbehavior or incapacity after passing a special majority resolution by both the Houses of the Parliament.
  • It is worth mentioning that the Chief Election Commissioner is appointed by the President, but he does not work on the post till the grace of the President.

About Election Commission:

  • The Election Commission is a permanent, independent and quasi-judicial body.
  • It was formed on 25 January 1950 in New Delhi.
  • The first Chief Election Commissioner of India was Sukumar Sen.
  • Currently the 25th Chief Election Commissioner is Rajeev Kumar.
  • This body was constituted by the Constitution of India with the objective of conducting free and fair elections in the country.
  • According to Article 324 of the Constitution, the Election Commission is responsible for conducting, directing and controlling the elections to the posts of Parliament, State Legislature, President and Vice President.
  • Separate State Election Commissions are mentioned in the Indian Constitution for conducting elections at the state level.
  • At present the Election Commission consists of three members: the Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners.

Way forward:

  • The Election Commission should conduct elections with utmost credibility, independence, probity, transparency, accountability, autonomy and professional approach.
  • In the interest of the election process, the purity of the political parties should be determined.
  • Human resources should be developed to make the electoral process effective.
  • Election Commission should strengthen the democratic values to maintain the faith of the people in the electoral system of the country.
  • Technology should be adopted to improve the electoral process.

Conclusion:

  • Fair and transparent elections have an important role in a democracy. It is the responsibility of the Election Commission to ensure this. But there have been allegations on many occasions that the Election Commission adopts a biased attitude and takes action. Therefore, such a person should be appointed to the post of Chief Election Commissioner, who is completely ethical and fair in his dealings.
  • The Supreme Court believes that in a democracy, the purity of elections should be maintained, otherwise it can have dire consequences.

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Mains Exam Question:

Critically discuss the process of appointment of members in the Election Commission.

 

Preliminary Exam Question:

With reference to the Chief Election Commissioner, consider the following statements-

  1. The Chief Election Commissioner is appointed by the President, but does not hold office during the grace of the President.
  2. The Chief Election Commissioner is removed from office by impeachment.

Which of the statements given above is/are true?

(a) 1 Only                        (b) 2 Only

(c) Both 1 and 2              (d) Neither 1, nor 2

Answer: Option A