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The Supreme Court today agreed to hear petitions challenging the appointment process of the Election Commissioner. The court will hear on March 21 the petitions challenging the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act 2023. In which the removal of the Chief Justice from the selection panel of the Election Commissioner has been challenged.
SC refuses to stay appointments
The Supreme Court also refused to stay the appointments of new Election Commissioners (EC) under the 2023 Act, which kept the Chief Justice of India out of the selection panel. A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih asked the petitioners to file a separate petition pointing out the fact that one seat has already been decided for the EC selection. The bench refused to stay the appointments made under the 2023 Act, saying that we do not stay any Act through an interim order.
Who filed the application and why?
The Supreme Court had filed a petition against the inclusion of Chief Justices (CJIs) in the selection committee for appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners (EC). This petition has been filed by the non-governmental organization (NGO) Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). In the petition, ADR has challenged the validity of Section 7 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023 and sought a stay on its implementation. Under this section the Chief Justice has been excluded from the selection committee.
two places were vacant
The hearing assumes significance as former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Sandhu were appointed Election Commissioners on Thursday. He was selected by the selection committee headed by PM Narendra Modi. Two posts fell vacant following the retirement of Anoop Chandra Pandey and the sudden resignation of Arun Goyal on February 14.