New Delhi:

The Supreme Court refused to put a hold on the appointment of two Election Commissioners – Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu – under a 2023 law that excluded the Chief Justice of India from the selection panel. The court will hear the matter on Thursday.

Refusing to stay the appointments, the bench said, “Normally and generally, we do not stay a law by way of an interim order.” It deferred the hearing on a batch of pleas challenging the appointment of two ECs under the 2023 law.

A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna, Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih told the petitioners, who pointed out that a meeting for the selection of ECs was pre-poned, to file a separate application.

Former IAS officers Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu had been picked by a selection committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Gyanesh Kumar retired as secretary of the cooperation ministry in February, while Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, was former Chief Secretary, Government of Uttarakhand.

Mr Sandhu, a 1988 batch IAS officer, retired from the post of Chief Secretary on January 31, 2024.

The vacancies had come up in the Election Commission (EC) after the retirement of Anup Chandra Pandey on February 14 and the sudden resignation of Arun Goel on March 8.

The poll panel is headed by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar.

The dates for the 2024 general elections for the Lok Sabha, along with four state assemblies, will be announced at 3pm tomorrow.

The term of the present Lok Sabha ends on June 16 and a new House has to be constituted before that.

Last time the Lok Sabha polls were announced on March 10 and held in seven phases beginning April 11. Votes were counted on May 23.

New Delhi:
Former bureaucrat Sukhbir Singh Sandhu was on Thursday appointed as one of the new Election Commissioners, with the other being Gyanesh Kumar, by a panel chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

Here are 5 facts about Sukhbir Singh Sandhu:

The appointment of two Election Commissioners, expected later this week, faces a new challenge in the Supreme Court. A Congress leader from Madhya Pradesh has filed a petition citing a 2023 order to restrain the government from appointing the Election Commissioners.

The two posts of Election Commissioners fell vacant after the latest resignation of Arun Goel and the retirement of Anup Chandra Pandey last month. The three-member Election Commission of India is now left only with Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar as the national elections are likely to be announced later this week.

Election Commissioners in India are appointed by the President on the recommendation of a three-member panel chaired by the Prime Minister. It also comprises a Union Minister and Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

The high-powered committee is expected to finalize the appointments by March 15.

In her petition, Congress leader Jaya Thakur cited the 2023 order of the Constitution Bench that ruled that election commissioners must be appointed on the advice of a panel comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and the Chief Justice of India.

Terming the new law unconstitutional, Ms Thakur sought a direction from the Supreme Court for the appointment of the Election Commissioners in line with its 2023 decision. She said the inclusion of the Chief Justice in the appointments panel will ensure transparency in the process.

In its 2023 order, the court had said the judgment will hold good “until a law is made by parliament”.

The government brought a new law in December to establish a new mechanism to appoint the Chief Election Commissioner and the two Election Commissioners. The new law replaced the Chief Justice of India with a Union Minister in the panel that finalizes the appointments.

Opposition parties had opposed the law, alleging it gives the government greater powers on the appointment of top poll officers and compromises the autonomy of the poll body.

The Supreme Court had earlier refused to pause the law while hearing a previous petition by Ms Thakur. Several pending cases on this subject are set to be heard in April, likely around when the country goes to polls.

New Delhi:

The controversial bill for the appointment of top election officers was not included in the list of eight bills given to the opposition by the government in the all-party meeting on Sunday, sources said. The meeting was held on the eve of the five-day special session of the parliament. 

Sources in the government said they are considering amending the bill — the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill. 

There is opposition to the bill as it strips the Chief Election Commissioner and other election commissioners of the status of Supreme Court judges. It proposes that the salary, allowance, and service conditions of the CEC and other ECs will be the same as that of the Cabinet Secretary, which was also opposed by the opposition in the all-party meeting yesterday.

The bill also seeks to replace the Chief Justice of India from a panel to advise the President regarding the appointments of the election commissioners with a member of the Cabinet, who will be nominated by the Prime Minister. This is in contrast to a Supreme Court judgment of March which said the panel should comprise the Prime Minister, the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, and the Chief Justice of India.

This provision, too, was strongly opposed by opposition parties, which alleged it would influence the fairness of elections. Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal has accused PM Modi of not following the Supreme Court order and said this is a “very dangerous situation”.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, while speaking to the media after the all-party meeting, did not mention the bill.

When asked whether the CEC and EC bill will be brought for discussion and passing, he gave an evasive response. “What I have to say, I have said,” he told reporters.

At the meeting, several political parties, including from the ruling NDA and the opposition INDIA bloc, made a strong pitch for the passage of the women’s reservation bill during the five-day session beginning Monday.

A special discussion on Parliament’s journey of 75 years starting from the Samvidhan Sabha is listed for today.