A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court to prevent the government from appointing the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners under Sections 7 and 8 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment Conditions of Service and Terms of Office) Act, 2023, Bar & Bench tweeted on Monday.

This action follows reports that two election commissioners will be appointed on March 15, under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to fill the vacancies left by the retirement of Anup Chandra Pandey and the unexpected exit of Arun Goel as Election Commissioner (EC).

The petition has been filed by a Congress leader from Madhya Pradesh citing a 2023 judgment to restrain the government from appointing new Election Commissioners. In her petition, Congress leader Jaya Thakur referenced the 2023 ruling of the Constitution Bench, which mandated that election commissioners must be appointed based on the recommendations of a panel consisting of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and the Chief Justice of India.

Thakur challenged the constitutionality of the new law and appealed to the Supreme Court to direct the appointment of Election Commissioners in accordance with its 2023 judgment. She argued that the involvement of the Chief Justice in the appointment panel would enhance transparency in the selection process.

The backdrop of this legal challenge is the enactment of a new law in December 2023 for the appointment of Election Commissioners. The law, approved by the President and published in the gazette on December 28, establishes a panel responsible for selecting the Chief Election Commissioners (CECs) and other Election Commissioners. This law overturns the previous Supreme Court judgment on the appointment process.

In March 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that the appointment of CECs and ECs should be made by the President based 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. However, in January 2024, the Supreme Court declined to halt the operation of the new law. Consequently, the appointment process for CECs and ECs will now follow the procedure outlined in the new law.

A five-judge Constitution Bench, headed by Justice KM Joseph, unanimously held that this procedure would persist until Parliament legislated on the matter. However, this judgment was overridden by Parliament”s passage of the Elections Commissioners Bill.

Under the new law, the selection committee for top positions in the poll panels will comprise the Prime Minister, the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and a Union Cabinet minister nominated by the Prime Minister, effectively excluding the Chief Justice of India from the process.