New Delhi, April 16 -- The Supreme Court has scheduled May 14 to hear multiple petitions challenging the appointment mechanism for the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners under the 2023 law.

The date was fixed by a bench comprising Justices Surya Kant, Dipankar Datta, and Ujjal Bhuyan after advocate Prashant Bhushan requested an urgent hearing.

"The court will take up the matter on May 14 by cancelling a special bench matter on the said date," Justice Kant told Bhushan, who represents the petitioner NGO Association for Democratic Reforms.

The petitions question whether appointments should follow the 2023 Constitution bench verdict, which required a panel including the Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition, and Chief Justice of India (CJI), or the new 2023 law that excludes the CJI from this process. Bhushan previously argued that the government "was making a mockery of democracy" by appointing officials under the new law rather than following the court's earlier judgment.

On February 17, Gyanesh Kumar became the first CEC appointed under the new legislation, with his term set to run until January 26, 2029. Simultaneously, Vivek Joshi, a 1989-batch Haryana-cadre IAS officer, was appointed as an Election Commissioner with a potential tenure until 2031.

The 2023 Supreme Court verdict had determined that leaving appointment power solely with the executive would harm democratic processes and fair elections. However, the court had specified that its prescribed three-member panel would operate only until Parliament enacted relevant legislation.

When refusing to stay recent appointments on March 15, 2024, the Supreme Court noted that its previous judgment had indeed allowed for legislative action on the matter. The NGO's petition claims the new appointment process, by excluding the CJI, allows excessive executive interference in appointments and undermines the Election Commission's independence.

Under the contested new system, former IAS officers Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Sandhu were recommended as Election Commissioners by a selection panel chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.