New Delhi: The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led selection committee will meet on Wednesday to pick a candidate for the post of election commissioner (EC) in the three-member panel. The new EC will replace outgoing commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey, who leaves office on February 14.
Besides Mr Pandey, Arun Goel is an election commissioner, while Rajiv Kumar is the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC). Mr Pandey will retire at the age of 65, and days before, the Election Commission is likely to announce the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections, due in April-May.
This will be the first appointment to be held after Parliament passed the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act following a Supreme Court order that mandated the presence of the Chief Justice of India in the appointment. The Apex Court had ruled that the appointment of CECs and election commissioners shall be made by the President based on the advice given by a committee consisting of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha or the leader of the largest Opposition party in the House and the Chief Justice of India.
However, in December last year, the government brought about a change in the law, removing the role of the Chief Justice of India in the appointment of the election commissioners. Before the Supreme Court's order, the President appointed the CECs and the election commissioners on the recommendation of the government.
As per the provisions of the new law, the President will appoint the CECs and the election commissioners on the recommendation of a selection committee, which will consist of three members -- the Prime Minister, one Union Cabinet minister and the Leader of the Opposition or the leader of the single largest party in the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
A search committee headed by the Union law minister and comprising two Union secretaries is learnt to have shortlist five candidates for consideration by the Prime Minister-led selection committee.
Union law minister Arjun Meghwal and Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, along with the Prime Minister, are part of the selection committee. This selection panel has the power to consider even those not short-listed by the search committee.
The bill was passed in the last Winter Session, when 97 of the Opposition members were suspended for "misconduct." The Opposition protested against the passing of the new law, arguing that the amended bill will lead to the appointment of "yes men" as the CECs, as two of the three members of the selection committee are the PM and a Union Cabinet minister.
The Opposition members dubbed the amendment "one of the biggest blows to democracy".
Petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the new law passed by the Parliament in December, saying the presence of a neutral member like the CJI was needed for a fair selection of election officials. The SC, however, has refused to strike down the new law.
