CEC & ECs: Do Not Downgrade Their Status
The India Commentary view
View all posts by this Author
By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2023-09-19 07:33:14
About the Author
The India Commentary view
View all posts by this Author
There is a huge difference between a person who is an impartial conductor of events and one who is tied to the government machinery as a civil servant. By definition, the latter is incapable of taking independent decisions as he or she has to answer to political masters. The Election Commission (EC) was designed as an independent body with enormous powers and attendant responsibilities to "superintend, control and direct" elections in India. By all accounts, and especially after T N Seshan showed the way in the 1990s, the EC has been doing its job diligently barring in some cases where its impartiality has been questioned in recent times.
But by trying to change the status of the CEC and the ECs from that of Supreme Court judges (hence impartial and not answerable to the ruling dispensation) to that of Cabinet Secretary (hence equated with a civil servant and subject to the control of the government of the day), the government is downgrading the status of the CEC and ECs. The Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023, to be tabled in the special session of Parliament, proposes to align the service conditions and salaries of the CEC and ECs with the Cabinet Secretary.
This is an assault on the independence of the EC and must not be done. The government must rethink. CEC and ECs must remain non-partisan and their status must be elevated enough for them to have the power to discipline the political class. This is more important now as violations by the political class have become increasingly frequent and the ECs impartiality is being questioned.
