India Supreme Court questions 2023 law on Election Commission appointments

The Supreme Court of India, hearing petitions on the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023, has expressed concern that successive governments have failed to enact legislation ensuring an independent Election Commission. A bench led by Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma noted that the 2023 Act gives the selection committee – the Prime Minister, a minister nominated by the Prime Minister and the Leader of Opposition – overwhelming control, excluding the Chief Justice of India and thereby threatening the Commission’s independence.

Petitioners argue the law contravenes the Supreme Court’s 2023 Anoop Baranwal judgment, which set a temporary appointment arrangement that included the Chief Justice until Parliament passed a proper statute. They contend the current law consolidates undue executive power and should be struck down or require amendment to align with constitutional principles. The Court observed that every government, irrespective of party, has behaved similarly, calling the situation “unfortunate for the country.”