Restricting the government’s power to appoint Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners (ECs), the Supreme Court Thursday ruled that they will be done on the advice of a committee comprising the Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India.
Partly allowing a batch of petitions which sought an independent mechanism for their appointment, a five-judge Constitution bench presided by Justice K M Joseph said, “We declare that as far as the appointment to the post of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and the Election Commissioners are concerned, the same shall be done by the President of India on the advice tendered by a Committee consisting of the Prime Minister of India, the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and in case there is no such leader, the leader of the largest party in the opposition in the Lok Sabha having the largest numerical strength and the Chief Justice of India”.
