Jairam Ramesh made his comment shortly after a bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha regarding the appointment of the Election Commissioners
‘Mr Modi wants to ensure [his] control over the Election Commission’, said the Congress MP and Congress General Secretary in-charge of Communications, Jairam Ramesh on Friday.
Mr Ramesh made his comment on Thursday shortly after a bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha regarding the appointment of the Election Commissioners.
The bill -The Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023 – replaces the Chief Justice of India, from the committee which advises the President of India on the appointment of Election Commissioners, with a Union Minister.
It was proposed in the parliament by Arjun Ram Meghwal, the Union Law Minister.
“Election Commission should be done on a bipartisan basis in order to remove any impression of bias or lack of transparency and fairness”, said Mr Ramesh, quoting LK Advani in, X (formerly Twitter).
“There is a rapidly growing opinion in the country which holds that appointments to Constitutional bodies such the Election Commission should be done on a bipartisan basis in order to remove any impression of bias or lack of transparency and fairness.”
No, this isn’t a Modi… pic.twitter.com/NDXAHLQ6DZ
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) August 11, 2023
He cited a letter written by LK Advani, the former Deputy Prime Minister from the BJP, to the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 2 June 2012.
In the letter, Mr Advani urged that the new member to the Election Commission must be appointed by a committee comprising ‘the Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India, Minister of Law and Justice, Leader of Opposition (Lok Sabha), and Leader of Opposition (Rajya Sabha)’.
Mr Advani also criticised the system, where the members are elected solely by the advice of the Prime Minister, as it ‘does not evoke confidence among the people’ and is also ‘vulnerable to manipulation and partisanship’.
The new bill not only stands against the proposal made by Mr Advani but also “overturns the judgement of a five-judge Constitutional bench from 2 March 2023”, said Mr Ramesh. ‘Election Commissioners should be appointed by the President based on advice from a committee comprising the Prime Minister, the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India’, ruled the top court in March.
“In order to allow independence in the functioning of the Election Commission as a Constitutional body, the office of Chief Election Commissioners as well as the Election Commissioners have to be insulated from the executive interference”, Mr Ramesh added.
He pointed out that the current bill ensures executive interference with its 2:1 dominance of the committee. This will advantage the BJP government led by PM Narendra Modi in the upcoming parliament elections in 2024, Mr Ramesh added.
