Supreme Court questions exclusion of CJI from election commissioner selection panel

In New Delhi, a two-judge Supreme Court bench raised concerns over Parliament’s decision to leave the chief justice out of the panel that chooses the chief election commissioner and election commissioners, noting that the CJI participates in other high-profile appointment committees. The judges reserved a ruling on the government’s request to refer the matter to a constitution bench while examining challenges to the 2023 Act, which delegates appointment power to a committee comprising the prime minister, the opposition leader and a cabinet minister.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta argued that the prime minister’s decisions should be trusted and that the three branches of government must respect each other’s independence. The court also asked how many ministers have pending criminal cases, recalling earlier trust placed in the elected government to avoid such appointments. Attorney General R Venkataramani and the government defended the legislation, claiming it does not jeopardise the Election Commission’s autonomy. Senior lawyers D Seshadri Naidu, Gopal Sankaranarayanan, Prashant Bhushan and Sanjay Parikh opposed the government's late plea for a larger bench.