oppn parties Is The Judiciary Stepping In Executive Domain?

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  • Tennis: Rohan Bopanna-Matthew Ebden reached the semifinals of the Miami Open
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  • India strongly objected to German foreign office remarks over the arrest of delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, called it "biased assumptions"
Delhi Lt Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena says government cannot be run from jail, hints at President's Rule in the capital ////// In a dangerous incident, the wings of two planes grazed while taxiing on the runway at Kolkata airport, all passengers were safe but DGCA ordered an inquiry and the pilots were derostered
oppn parties
Is The Judiciary Stepping In Executive Domain?

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2022-11-24 05:56:50

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.

The tug of war in the Supreme Court, with the 5-judge bench making several pertinent observations regarding the continued assault on the independence of the Election Commission as, in its view, the appointment process of election commissioners was not transparent and the government arguing that the appointment was the exclusive preserve of the executive, basically stems from the fact that political parties in India have never displayed the will to go for much needed electoral reforms. Since the courts have had to step in to trigger the introduction of such basic reforms as to ensure that criminal records of all candidates, the list of their assets and educational qualifications were published and those with convicted of a crime that carries a punishment of two years' (or even less in some cases) of imprisonment were disqualified to contest elections, it is clear that politicians by themselves would not like to change the status quo.

It is in this respect that the Supreme Court, hearing a bunch of pleas on the process of appointing election commissioners, has sought to intervene and find out if the government is acting against the Constitution in such appointments. The judges have opined that successive governments have used the "silence of the Constitution" on this issue to abrogate exclusive power. Although the Election Commission, a statutory body that is independent for all practical purposes, has been doing exemplary work in conducting the world's largest elections and is largely seen to be free of bias, the point which the bench has raised cannot be ignored. The process of appointing election commissioners needs to be much more transparent that it is now.

But for that, judicial intervention in the form of the chief justice of India sitting on the selection committee is not needed. As per separation of powers, even though the Constitution is silent on this issue, the executive must have the right of such appointments. The only need is to streamline the process through consultations between all political parties and, if needed, the enactment of a separate law. The government must not play favourites and it must be on paper how the election commissioners will be selected. For, when it comes to the crunch, if the election commissioners know they have been appointed as per law as they were the most eligible, they will not be beholden to the powers-that-be and could carry out their duties fearlessly and in a fair manner.