2/3 Opposition Outside; Inside Lok Sabha Bill to Appoint CEC & Poll Officers passed

Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023, was passed in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, virtually without the opposition in the house due to a series of suspensions ordered by the Lok Sabha Speaker for the rest of the winter session ever since the massive security breach in the new parliament on December 13.

The new Bill replaces the Supreme Court order that came earlier this year directing a panel commissioned with the task of selecting of Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners. SC had formed the panel comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and the Chief Justice until the parliament framed a new law prescribing the selection process.

The bill which was earlier passed by Rajya Sabha and came through Lok Sabha on Thursday has dropped the Chief Justice of India from the panel. While the SC had constituted the panel to ensure the independence of the election commissioners, the new bill has kept the Supreme Court away from the selection process. According to the new bill, CJI is replaced with a cabinet minister. Since the bill has already been passed in Rajya Sabha in the last session, the bill will now go to the President for assent.

The opposition has called it the “bulldozing of democracy”.  In addition, they have alleged that the bill gives the government greater powers on the appointment of top poll officers and compromises the autonomy of the poll body, exactly the reason why the petition was moved before the Supreme Court in the first place.

According to the new bill, courts are prohibited from entertaining any civil or criminal proceedings against a current or an ex-CEC or EC “for acts done or words spoken in the discharge of official duty or function”.

During the discussion in Lok Sabha today, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said the 1991 Act on the service conditions of top poll officers was “a half-baked attempt and the present Bill covers the areas left out by the previous legislation”.