{"id":258014,"date":"2023-08-30T20:26:16","date_gmt":"2023-08-30T14:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=258014"},"modified":"2023-08-30T20:29:04","modified_gmt":"2023-08-30T14:59:04","slug":"the-election-commission-autonomy-in-the-crosshairs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/the-election-commission-autonomy-in-the-crosshairs\/","title":{"rendered":"The Election Commission \u2014 autonomy in the crosshairs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source:<\/strong> The post is based on the article \u201cThe Election Commission \u2014 autonomy in the crosshairs<\/strong>\u201d published in \u201cThe Hindu\u201d on 30th August 2023.<\/p>\n

Syllabus:<\/strong> GS2- Appointment to various Constitutional posts, powers, functions and responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies.<\/p>\n

News:<\/strong> The article discusses the recent conflict between India’s government and judiciary over the appointment process of the Election Commission of India (ECI) officials. The government introduced a bill to change the Supreme Court’s directive on the appointment process, potentially giving the government more control over the ECI.<\/p>\n

What is the recent conflict over the appointment process of ECI officials?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Read<\/strong> – Appointments to the Election Commission \u2013 Proposed changes<\/a><\/p>\n

What past suggestions have been made for reforming the appointment process of ECI officials?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Constituent Assembly Debates (1949):<\/strong> Appointment of the CEC should be subject to confirmation by two-thirds majority in a joint session of both Houses of Parliament.<\/p>\n

Committees’ Suggestions:<\/strong> Various committees, including the V.M. Tarkunde Committee in 1975 and the Dinesh Goswami Committee in the 1990s, along with the second Administrative Reforms Commission in 2009, emphasized a more inclusive appointment process. They recommended that the selection shouldn’t be left to the government alone but should involve a broader collegium.<\/p>\n

B.B. Tandon’s Suggestion (2006):<\/strong><\/p>\n

A seven-member committee should select the CEC and other ECs. The committee should consist of:<\/p>\n

Prime Minister<\/p>\n

Lok Sabha Speaker<\/p>\n

Opposition Leaders in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha<\/p>\n

Law Minister<\/p>\n

Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha<\/p>\n

A Supreme Court judge nominated by the CJI<\/p>\n

BJP’s Previous Stand (2006 & 2012):<\/strong> Prominent BJP leaders like Arun Jaitley and L.K. Advani supported a representative collegium that included the CJI for appointing top electoral officials.<\/p>\n

What are the implications of this bill?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Reduced Judiciary Influence<\/strong>: By replacing the CJI with a Union Cabinet Minister, the judiciary’s say in the appointment of ECI officials is effectively eliminated. The new composition gives the ruling government a dominant role in the selection process, potentially allowing it to have greater sway over the ECI.<\/p>\n

Historical Context:<\/strong> Previously, suggestions from multiple committees and even from the current ruling party (BJP) emphasized the importance of including the CJI to ensure the ECI’s independence.<\/p>\n

Democratic Concerns:<\/strong> The bill could be perceived as an attempt to make democratic institutions more compliant to ruling government, leaving structures in place but potentially altering their core functionality.<\/p>\n

Erosion of Trust:<\/strong> Given the ECI’s reputation as a trustworthy institution, changes that give the appearance of partisanship might erode public confidence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: The post is based on the article \u201cThe Election Commission \u2014 autonomy in the crosshairs\u201d published in \u201cThe Hindu\u201d on 30th August 2023. Syllabus: GS2- Appointment to various Constitutional posts, powers, functions and responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies. News: The article discusses the recent conflict between India’s government and judiciary over the appointment process… Continue reading The Election Commission \u2014 autonomy in the crosshairs<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[300,212,10498],"class_list":["post-258014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-governance","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258014\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}