Centre Tables Bill In RS To Replace CJI In Panel Selecting Poll Officers Amid Uproar By Oppn

According to the bill, the upcoming CECs and EC will be selected by a three-member panel headed by the PM and comprising the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha and a Cabinet minister

The Centre on Thursday tabled a contentious bill that seeks to replace the Chief Justice of India with a cabinet minister in the panel for selection of chief election commissioners and election commissioners amid an uproar by the Opposition. The Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023 was moved by Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal in the Upper House of the Parliament in the post-lunch session, reported news agency PTI. 

According to the bill, the upcoming chief election commissioners and election commissioner will be selected by a three-member panel headed by the prime minister and comprising the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha and a Cabinet minister. 

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre has drawn flak from the Opposition over the bill like Congress and Aam Aadmi Party who have raised strong objections and accused the government of diluting a Constitution bench order. 

Congress, AAP Oppose The Bill 

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "weakening democracy" while Congress MP KC Venugopal called the move a "blatant attempt at making the Election Commission a total puppet in the hands of the PM".

"I had already said that the Prime Minister does not believe in the Supreme Court of the country. His message is clear - whatever order of the Supreme Court he does not like, he will bring a law in Parliament and overturn it," Kejriwal tweeted.

"What about the Supreme Court's existing ruling which requires an impartial panel? Why does the PM feel the need to appoint a biased Election Commissioner? This is an unconstitutional, arbitrary and unfair Bill - we will oppose this on every forum," Venugopal said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale alleged the party of “openly rigging” the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. 

“BJP is RIGGING the 2024 elections openly. Modi Govt has again brazenly trampled upon an SC judgment & is making the Election Commission its own bunch of stooges,” Gokhale tweeted.