Bill to set up committee to appoint CEC, ECs introduced in Rajya Sabha

On Saturday, Brittas told The Sunday Express that he had submitted the Bill to the Rajya Sabha Secretariat about two months ago, before the Supreme Court’s hearing in the election commissioners’ case in November. During the hearing on November 22, Justice K M Joseph had observed that a committee including the CJI may be the least intrusive way of appointing ECs.

The court had asked the government for details of the process, particularly the files pertaining to the appointment of Election Commissioner Arun Goel, who was an IAS officer until he took voluntary retirement on November 18. He was appointed EC by the President the very next day.

Brittas said it was a coincidence that his Bill proposed setting up a committee headed by the CJI and including the Lok Sabha Speaker and Leader of Opposition for the appointment of ECs. “It is the most viable proposition,” he said. “The Election Commission takes quasi-judicial decisions. It is one body that is vital for the survival of democracy.”

Brittas said the Bill proposed setting up of an independent secretariat of the ECI, as opposed to the current system where civil servants who are a part of the executive are posted to the poll panel. For example, the way Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Secretariats have a different way of recruiting officers, the ECI Secretariat could also have its own system. Officers who have worked at the district level, retired judges and others from the legal field could be considered for the ECI Secretariat, he said.

The Bill proposed amending Clause 2 of Article 324 of the Constitution that deals with appointment of the CEC and ECs. Instead of the appointments being made by the President, the Bill proposed adding to the Clause concerned the line “as per the recommendations of a committee” consisting of the CJI as chairperson, the Lok Sabha Speaker as co-chairperson and the Leader of the largest opposition party in Lok Sabha as member. The Bill also proposed adding that when a CEC demits office, the senior-most EC shall be appointed CEC, unless the committee finds him or her unfit for reasons recorded in writing.

As of now, there is a convention that the senior-most EC gets elevated to CEC, but it is not a Constitutional clause.