New Delhi, March 19 -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it would hear on April 16 a batch of petitions challenging the validity of the law relating to the appointment of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners, which dropped the Chief Justice of India from the selection panel for Election Commissioners.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), mentioned the matter before a bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh, requesting a hearing.

Bhushan urged for a priority hearing of the case to another day as the matter listed today was not likely to be taken up due to the court's packed schedule.

Bhushan said that the petitioners' arguments would not take long....