15

Mar

Manner of Appointment of  ECs Comes Under Fire

image

Today’s Edition

New Delhi, 15 March 2024

Dr Satish Misra

A close-up of a person with glasses Description automatically generated

Prime Minister Narendra Modi led a panel on March 14 to choose bureaucrats Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Gyanesh Kumar for the two top vacant posts in the Election Commission of India just a day before the Supreme Court was scheduled to hear the pleas on the process of appointment of election commissioners.

 

The only apparent reason for such a hurry with which the government panel, consisting of PM Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Congress’ leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury moved to pave the way for the appointment of two Election Commissioners seems to be an apprehension that the country’s apex court may decide to intervene to make the appointment process transparent and non-partisan. In the panel of three, it is more than obvious that the Prime Minister and the Home Minister constitute a majority and the two easily can pick up the person as an election commissioner of their choice and convenience.      

 

Fear of the top court becomes all the more evident in the words of the leader of the opposition who told the media that he was given 212 names for scrutiny on the night of March 13. "I had asked for a shortlist so that I could examine the candidates. But I did not get that opportunity. I reached Delhi at midnight and the meeting was at noon today. I was given 212 names, how can someone examine so many candidates in a day? Ten minutes before the meeting, I was given a shortlist of 6 names," Chowdhury said.

 

The Congress leader in the Lok Sabha hit out at the Centre over the law that replaced the Chief Justice of India with a Union Minister on the selection committee. "The Chief Justice of India should have been on this committee," he said, adding that the law brought last year had reduced the meeting to a "formality". "The government is in the majority on the panel. What they want happens."

 

"It was fait accompli that the chosen two will be selected. However, I tried to intervene appropriately to bolster the institution. That's why, before I arrived in Delhi, I sought a shortlist. They gave me a list of all candidates, numbering 212. Now you can imagine if, in a single night, it is humanly possible for me to examine 212 names and find out the most competent person among them," he said.

 

The Congress leader said he had given a dissent note, questioning the procedure of selection.

 

In the current process, a search committee led by the Law Minister prepares a shortlist. Then, a selection panel led by the Prime Minister and comprising the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and a Union Minister makes the final choice.

 

The Supreme Court had in March last year ruled that the panel must have the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India and the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha. But the Centre thereafter brought a law to replace the Chief Justice with a Union Minister. The change has tilted the process in the favour of the Centre.

 

The Association for Democratic Reforms and Congress leader Jaya Thakur have challenged the process in the Supreme Court and the matter will be heard tomorrow.

 

Chowdhury also referred to Arun Goel's resignation as Election Commissioner, which has precipitated the present row. "When Mr Goel was appointed, the Supreme Court had made a 'lightning speed' remark. He came with lightning speed and left with digital speed," he said.

 

Sandhu and Kumar are retired IAS officers of the 1988 batch. While Sandhu is from the Uttarakhand cadre of IAS, Kumar is from the Kerala cadre.

 

Sandhu has earlier held key government positions, including the Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand and chairman of the National Highways Authority of India. Kumar has served as secretary in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and the Amit Shah-led Ministry of Cooperation.

 

The two officers have been chosen for the Election Commissioner posts a day before the Supreme Court hears petitions challenging the selection process.

 

Notwithstanding the competence of the chosen officers for the two vacant posts in the Election Commission, it is clear that the Modi government cares little for the principle of separation of power as defined in the Constitution and wants to convey a stern message to the judiciary that the country’s Executive has a preeminent position in the scheme of things.

 

First using the legislative majority, the BJP government changed the law keeping the Chief Justice out of the selection panel for the Election Commissioners ensuring that the government would always have its way of appointing election commissioners of its choice and now rushed to fill up the two vacant positions to show judiciary its place.

 

In other words, the step is nothing but sheer arrogance of power rather than an indirect insult to the judiciary. (Words 825)

---------------

  • Share:

About Us

We must explain to you how all seds this mistakens idea off denouncing pleasures and praising pain was born and I will give you a completed accounts..

Contact Us

Contact Info

  • 70, Gyan Khand- 4, Indirapuram, Ghaziabad. Uttar Pradesh.
  • +91-9810533682
  • info@mediamap.co.in
  • Week Days: 09.00 to 18.00 Sunday: Closed