Supreme Court judges split over Election Commissioner appointment law

A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India has reached a deadlock regarding whether to refer petitions challenging the 2023 law governing the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners (EC) to a five-judge constitutional bench.

Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma expressed differing opinions on the matter. Justice Datta argued against referring the case to a larger bench, noting that while the Election Commission must be independent, the current appointment process lacks the necessary appearance of impartiality. He remarked that the presence of the Leader of the Opposition in the selection committee becomes “tokenistic” because a Cabinet Minister nominated by the Prime Minister is unlikely to dissent from the government's position.

Conversely, Justice Sharma disagreed with Justice Datta’s stance, maintaining that the matter should be decided by a larger constitutional bench. The petitions, filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms and others, contend that the current appointment mechanism threatens the independence and impartiality of the Election Commission, which is considered part of the basic structure of the Constitution.