oppn parties Supreme Court: Making The Election Commission Truly Independent

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  • Allahabad HC said that the UP Police is acting as law unto themselves as they detained a person unlawfully even before his arrest
  • Kolkata witnesses traffic snarls on the first day of the Durga Puja festival as revellers start pnadal-hopping
  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
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Supreme Court: Making The Election Commission Truly Independent

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2023-03-03 08:02:55

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that Election Commissioner (EC) and the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) will henceforth be selected by a panel comprising of the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India and the leader of the opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha till the Parliament enacts a law on the subject. Ruing the fact that several Central governments in the past 75 years have failed to enact such a law, despite the Constitution asking them to do so, as it will hamper their pursuit of power, the five-judge constitution bench said that exclusive control of the executive in such selection cannot be allowed to continue.

The bench said that "ECs, including the CEC, blessed with nearly infinite powers, must be chosen not by the executive exclusively and particularly without any objective yardstick". It said that "weak-kneed persons" or persons who are obligated or feel indebted to those who appoint them cannot be entrusted with the job as it is the "very foundation of democracy". There was stiff opposition from the Centre which said that the judiciary was stepping in executive domain but the bench was of the view that it has to step in as there is legislative vacuum in the matter. The court also accorded a huge degree of independence to the Election Commission by ruling that, among other things, it can now draw funds directly from the Consolidated Fund of India instead of waiting for approvals from the finance and other ministries.

There is no doubt that the selection of such important functionaries as the ECs and the CEC must follow some defined yardstick and must not be left to the whims and fancies of the party in power at the Centre. The practice now is to appoint retired bureaucrats who were close to the ruling dispensation to have control over them while maintaining a facade of propriety. But one feels that with regional parties becoming important in recent times, the Supreme Court could have, apart from the leader of the opposition in Parliament, included the leaders (in Parliament) of the next two big parties in the panel to make it truly representative. 

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