SC to Consider Plea Seeking Recall of Split Verdict on Appointment of CEC, Election Commissioners
The plea follows a September 23 split verdict over whether challenges to the 2023 Election Commission appointment law require consideration by a larger Constitution Bench.
NEW DELHI, Oct 7: The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to consider an application seeking recall of its recent split verdict concerning the constitutional challenge to the 2023 law governing the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and other Election Commissioners (ECs).
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, was informed about the recall plea by senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan. The CJI said the court would examine the application and take an appropriate decision.
The plea relates to the September 23 order of a bench comprising Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma. The two judges differed over whether petitions challenging the 2023 legislation should be sent to a larger Constitution Bench.
Justice Datta had held that the existing bench could decide the petitions, while Justice Sharma favoured a reference to a five-judge Constitution Bench, saying the challenge raised a substantial constitutional question that had not previously been settled by the court.
Despite their disagreement, both judges agreed that the matter should be placed before the Chief Justice for deciding the appropriate course. They noted that referring the disagreement to another three-judge bench could cause further delay before the substantive constitutional issues were addressed.
The underlying petitions challenge the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023. Among the key issues is the composition of the selection committee prescribed under the law.
The legislation replaced the Chief Justice of India with a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the Prime Minister on the three-member panel. The committee consequently comprises the Prime Minister, the nominated Union Minister and the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
The legal challenge traces back to the Supreme Court’s 2023 judgment in the Anoop Baranwal case. At that time, the court had prescribed an interim selection mechanism involving the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition and the CJI until Parliament enacted legislation on appointments to the Election Commission.
The recall application was earlier mentioned before the bench headed by Justice Datta, Sankaranarayanan told the court. He said the matter was subsequently released from that bench and he was directed to mention it before the CJI.
The senior advocate also informed the bench that a curative petition had been filed in connection with the matter but maintained that the recall application was a separate proceeding.
The court’s decision to examine the recall plea comes while the larger question concerning the validity of the 2023 appointment framework remains before the Supreme Court. The outcome could determine how the challenge proceeds and whether the court ultimately constitutes a larger bench to examine the constitutional questions surrounding the legislation.
