Congress leader moves Supreme Court to prevent use of CEC Act 2023 to appoint new Election Commissioners

Congress leader Dr. Jaya Thakur has moved the Supreme Court to restrain the Central government from invoking the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023 (CEC Act) to fill two vacant Election Commissioner posts. .The development comes in the wake of the resignation of Election Commissioner Arun Goel last week..Notably, the Supreme Court is yet to decide on petitions challenging the validity of the CEC Act, 2023, which drew controversy for its omission of the Chief Justice of India from the panel tasked with selecting the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners. .The Supreme Court had earlier refused to stay the new law (CEC Act) governing the appointment of Election Commissioners. A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta stated that it cannot issue an interim stay for the present. .The CEC Act allows appointment to the posts of CEC and Election Commissioners by a selection committee comprising the Prime Minister (PM), a Union Cabinet Minister and the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha..The law was challenged before the Supreme Court by Jaya Thakur on concerns that the ruling government would dominate the new selection panel. She argued that the 2023 Act was in violation of the Supreme Court’s judgment in the case of Anoop Baranwal v. Union of India and ors, which had called for the inclusion of the Chief Justice of India in the appointment process.Dr. Thakur further contended that the provisions of the CEC Act were violative of the principle of free and fair elections since it does not provide an "independent mechanism" for the appointment of the members of the ECI..In January this year, the Supreme Court sought the response of the Central government and the Election Commission of India (ECI) in the matter but refused to stay the operation of the law. Last month, it again refused to stay the law. .Meanwhile, Arun Goel resigned as Election Commissioner on March 8..Supreme Court dismisses PIL against appointment of Arun Goel as Election Commissioner of India.Another Election Commissioner, Anup Pandey had resigned earlier from his post on February 15. This meant that only one member was left in the ECI, namely Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar. With the 2024 Lok Sabha elections fast approaching, efforts to fill in the two vacant ECI spots are likely to be taken soon. .In view of this, Dr. Thakur has now filed an application before the Supreme Court to prevent the appointment of the next Election Commissioners under the CEC Act. She has urged the top court to direct that these appointments be done as per the selection process outlined in the Anoop Baranwal judgment, in which the executive did not have a majority in the process."Election for Lok Sabha Election 2024 may be announced shortly, therefore appointment of member of new election Commissioner is require immediately, for that this Hon’ble Court given clear verdict [sic]", Dr. Thakur's application said.