Why is it in the news?
1.The President of India recently appointed Election Commissioner, Mr. Gyanesh Kumar as the Chief Election Commissioner and Dr. Vivek Joshi as Election Commissioner.
2. The selection committee comprising the Prime Minister, the leader of opposition and the Home Minister selected the CEC and EC. However, the leader of opposition submitted a letter of dissent contending that since the Supreme Court was set to hear the appointment process challenging the removal of the Chief Justice of India as member of the selection committee under new law. However, his dissent note was not taken into consideration and the President of India on the recommendation of the selection committee by the majority vote of 2:1, headed by the Prime Minister, appointed Mr Gyanesh Kumar as the Chief Election Commissioner with immediate effect. While the EC Mr Vivek Joshi was appointed with effect from the day he assumed charge of his office.
3. In 2023, in the case of Anoop Barnawal vs Union of India, the Supreme Court held that the framers of India’s constitution had never intended to give the executive exclusive appointment powers with regard to CEC and ECs. It held that a selection committee comprising the Prime Minister, the leader of the opposition party in Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India would select CEC and ECs until Parliament enacted a law.
4. The appointment process of CEC and ECs is to be heard by the Supreme Court in March. The court has to decide whether Parliament has the legal authority to override or modify a judgement of a constitution bench through legislation or by promulgating an ordinance. The Supreme Court has also assured the petitioner that the consequences of the court’s decision on the validity of the new Act would apply even if appointment was made in the interim.
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How are the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners appointed?
1.CEC is appointed under article 324 of our constitution. Until 1989, there was a single member election commission when the Central Government appointed two other ECs. But the United Front Government cancelled the appointments of ECs and reduced the election commission to a single member body as earlier. But in 1993, the Congress government again made the election commission as 3 member body consisting of CEC and two ECs.
2. Before the new Act, of 2023, relating to the appointment conditions of services and terms of office of CEC and ECs, the President appointed the CEC and ECs on the advice of the cabinet headed by the Prime Minister. Incumbent CEC was succeeded by the next senior most EC.
3. After the new Act, the procedure is to establish a search committee headed by the law minister and two senior officers of the rank of secretaries who are to shortlist five candidates. These shortlisted candidates are sent to a selection committee headed by the Prime Minister, the leader of opposition and a minister nominated by the Prime Minister. Thus, the Chief Justice of India as a member of the selection committee was removed and in his place a nominated minister by the Prime Minister put in place to make the selection committee having the majority of 2:1 for the government. However, the selection committee has power to consider names outside the shortlisted five candidates.
4. According to section 5 of the Act, the CEC and ECs should have held the rank of secretary to the Government of India; shall be a person of integrity : have knowledge of and experience in management and conduct of elections.
5. The new Act specifies the terms of service of CEC and ECs. They are not eligible for re-appointment. Where an election commissioner is appointed as CEC, his term of office shall not be more than 6 years in aggregate as the EC and CEC.
6. CEC can be removed from his post only through the process of impeachment by the Parliament by special majority. However, ECs can be removed by the President of India only on the recommendation of CEC. But it is not mandatory for the President to accept the recommendation of CEC. For example, during the UPA Government, the CEC recommended the removal of EC Naveen Chawla but the President did not accept his advice.
7.Salaries and allowances of CEC and ECs cannot be varied to their disadvantages during the term of their offices. CEC and ECs enjoy the rank of the judge of the Supreme Court.
Functions of the Election Commission
The functions and powers of the EC of India are :
1. Conduct of the election of the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, State Legislatures, the President and the Vice President of India.
2. It prepares and revises electoral rolls and registers all eligible voters.
3. It grants recognition to the various political parties and allocates them election symbols.
4. It has also power to advise the President in matters relating to the disqualifications of MPs and MLAs.
5. It issues the model code of conduct during elections for political parties so that no one indulges in unfair practice or there is no arbitrary use of powers.
6. It notifies dates of election
7. It determines the territorial areas of each constituency on the recommendation of the delimitation commission.
8. It cancels polls in case of booth capturing, rigging, violence and other irregularities.
9. It advises the President as to when the election can be held in a state which is under the President’s rule. If it is not sure to conduct free and fair elections, it may recommend to the President for the extension of the President’s rule in that state.
10. It registers political parties and grants them the status of national or state political parties.
11. It promotes voter awareness and increases voter’s participation.
12. To sum up, ECI is vested with the power to superintend and control elections in India. However, it is not entrusted with the elections of municipal corporations or Panchayat bodies. Elections of these bodies are conducted by the State Election Commission.
How will the Election Commission be strengthened ?
1. The new Act of 2023 has given overriding power to the President in selecting CEC and ECs. There is need to make the selection process of CEC and ECs more transparent by including the PM, the leader of opposition of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Chief Justice of India and a Cabinet Minister so that the executive or the Government of the day must not have absolute power with regard to the selection of CEC and ECs.
2. There is a need to give equal protection to ECs and CEC. While CEC can only be removed through impeachment by both Houses of Parliament with special majority, ECs can be removed by the President on the recommendation of CEC. ECs should also be removed only by the process of impeachment by the Parliament with special majority. This would give ECs more independence in their functioning.
3. Model code of conduct should be incorporated into election laws so that its violations can be dealt with sternly.
4. ECI should have more teeth to deal with criminalization of politics.
5. More election tribunals should be established for the quick disposal of election related cases.
6. The ECI should collaborate with tech companies to track and remove fake news affecting elections.
7. There is a need to implement state funding of elections so that the dependence on corporate donations is reduced.
8. The ECI should ensure that there should be a level playing field both for ruling and opposition parties.
9. The ECI should ensure that corruption, muscle power, bribery and wealth power do not come into play to give a candidate a winning edge.
10. It should also ensure that no parliamentary or legislative constituency go uncontested as it happened in the case of Surat in the last Parliamentary election 2024.
11. The ECI must ensure that there should not be discrepancy between votes polled and counted as happened in the case of recently held legislative election in Maharashtra.
Conclusion
1. The ECI is one of the pillars of robust democracy. The strength of democracy depends upon the effective conduct of elections. It is the bounden duty of ECI to ensure transparent, credible and violence free elections throughout India.
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