Supreme Court declines to stay the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023

Today, the Supreme Court (SC) of India declined to stay the law, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, and said “You cannot say that the Election Commission is under the thumb of the executive.” This law removes the Chief Justice of India from the election panel for election commissioners (SC) and allows a selection committee consisting of the Prime Minister, a Union Cabinet Minister, and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha to appoint the EC and CEC. The matter was heard today, by a two-judge bench comprising Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Sanjiv Khanna.  

Senior Advocate Vikas Singh, Advocate Prashant Bhushan, Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayana, Senior Advocate Sanjay Parikh, and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta presented the contentions or arguments before the top court. Earlier on March 13, 2024, the SC agreed to hear the petitions against the appointment procedure of Election Commissioners as per the new law on March 15. The matter was further listed for hearing today (March 21, 2024) by the SC bench as the interlocutory applications were not on record. The SC today refused to stay the law after addressing all the contentions submitted by the counsels.