Supreme Court on March 21, Thursday dismissed the applications seeking a stay on two Election Commissioners and enquired about the selection procedure used to select the Commissioners.
A bench of comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta said that elections are round the corner and stay on the appointment would result in “chaos and uncertainty,” while dismissing all stay order applications.
Justice Sanjiv Khanna was quoted as saying, ” You cannot say that the Election Commission is under the thumb of the executive. He added, “At this stage we cannot stay the legislation and it will lead to only chaos and uncertainty.”
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The apex court while questioning the Centre for the speed with which the Search Committee shortlisted candidates and the speed with which two Election Commissioners were selected by the Selection Committee said, “It is not questioning the credentials of the Election Commissioners selected, but on the procedure in which the selection was made.”
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The Supreme Court thus declined to put on hold the two Election Commissioners’ appointments that dropped the Chief Justice of India from the selection panel for Election Commissioners.
“Now they (Election Commissioners) have been appointed, elections are round the corner… There are no allegations against persons appointed,” ANI quoted the bench as saying.
Appearing on behalf of the Centre, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, told the bench that the process had started in February, immediately after the Act came into force. The selection procedure took place under the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023.
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The bench challenged the constitutional validity of the CEC Act. The bench further asked the central government to respond to the same within six weeks and said it would pass a detailed order later.
Supreme Court’s ruling came after Congress leader Ajaya Thakur and others filed applications seeking direction to restrain the Centre from appointing new Election Commissioners under the Act.
(With agency inputs)
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