ECI Appointments: Constitutional and Moral Imperatives

Anupama Roy and Ujjwal Kumar Singh write:

In March 2023, a constitution bench of the Supreme Court of India directed that the appointment of the chief election commissioner (CEC) and other election commissioners (ECs) shall be made by a “three-member committee” consisting of the Prime Minister, the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha (or the leader of the largest opposition party [LOP]), and the Chief Justice of India (CJI) (Anoop Baranwal v Union of India). This “practice” of the appointment of the CEC and the ECs on the advice of a committee was to remain in force till a law was enacted by Parliament. The directions came in response to a clutch of writ petitions under Article 32 of the Constitution, requesting the Court to “consider the true effect of Article 324,” especially Article 324(2), which provides for the appointment of the CEC and other ECs by the President “subject to any law made by Parliament.”