According to a statement made by the Supreme Court on Wednesday, employees of the Election Commission of India should not be “yes men” for the ruling party but rather “independent who may act independently,” even if that means opposing the Prime Minister.
The selection of the Chief Election Commissioner and the Election Commissioners should be “procedure-based and transparent,” according to a five-judge Constitution bench led by Justice KM Joseph.
Do you think the Election Commissioner… if he is asked to take on none less than the Prime Minister, it’s just an example, and he doesn’t come around to doing it – will that not be a case of full failure of the system?, the bench posed in a hypothetical question to the administration.
The top court was hearing arguments contesting the validity of the current process for choosing CECs and ECs, arguing that decisions were made based on the whims of the government.
The Center reiterated its case throughout the day-long hearing on the third day, claiming that there was no “trigger” pointing to any actions by the poll panel that would have negatively impacted the conduct of free and fair elections in the nation and therefore no need for the court to step in.
In their appearances on behalf of the Centre, Attorney General R. Ventakaramani, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, and senior counsel Balbir Singh stated that the “silence of the constitution” on this matter may be resolved by the parliament alone, not by judicial intervention.
They told the highest court that the executive branch’s independence was as sacred as the judiciary’s, and that no outside meddling in the government’s business was permitted.
On Thursday, the case’s hearing will resume.
The petitions aimed to establish a separate collegium or selection body for the CEC and two other ECs’ upcoming appointments.
According to the petitions, the Centre unilaterally appoints the members of the Election Commission, unlike the appointments of the CBI director or Lokpal, where the leader of the Opposition and judiciary have a say.
On October 23, 2018, the Supreme Court forwarded a PIL to the Constitution bench.
