Congress leader Jaya Thakur has filed the petition in the aftermath of Arun Goel abruptly resigning from his position as election commissioner....
Digital desk: A request has been made to the Supreme Court to prevent the Union government from selecting a new election commissioner in accordance with the recently passed Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment Conditions of Service and Terms of Office) Act, 2023.
Congress leader Jaya Thakur has filed the petition in the aftermath of Arun Goel abruptly resigning from his position as election commissioner, leaving the three-person poll panel with just one member ahead of the vital Lok Sabha elections.
In the plea, Thakur asks the Supreme Court to issue an order compelling the Union government to follow the rules outlined in a previous ruling by the Supreme Court. Those rules state that election commissioners must be chosen by a panel that includes the Leader of the Opposition, the Prime Minister, and the Chief Justice of India.
After being passed by Parliament in December 2023, the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service And Term of Office) Act essentially superseded the CJI by designating a cabinet minister as one of the three members of the selection panel.
Thakur filed a challenge to the Act's constitutionality with the apex court in January. He claimed that because the Act lacks a "independent mechanism" for selecting the members of the Election Commission of India (ECI), its provisions violate the idea of free and fair elections.
However, the court agreed to review a number of petitions that contested it and sent notice to the Center. Senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for Jaya Thakur, was instructed by a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta to serve a copy of the petition to the Center's attorney.
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