The Supreme Court said it cannot stay the law on election commissioners’ appointment at this stage.
The Supreme Court on Thursday said it cannot stay the law on the appointment of the election commissioners at this stage as it could create chaos before the elections.
The decision comes days after the Supreme Court refused to stay the appointments of new election commissioners (ECs) under a 2023 law that excluded the chief justice of India from the selection panel.
A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna, Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih had told the petitioners, who pointed out that a meeting for the selection of ECs was preponed, to file a separate application pointing out the fact.
Refusing to stay the appointments made in accordance with the 2023 law, the bench said, “Normally and generally, we do not stay a law by way of an interim order.”
It had deferred till March 21 the hearing on a batch of pleas challenging the appointments of two ECs under the 2023 law.
Senior advocate Vikas Singh, who appeared in the court on behalf of petitioner Jaya Thakur, said when a judgment has been passed, there cannot be any transgression. He contended that there was a clear-cut transgression in the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan appeared in the court on behalf of NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), which has challenged the CJI’s exclusion from the panel contending that the Election Commission should be insulated from “political” and “executive interference” for maintaining a healthy democracy.
The hearing assumes significance as former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Sandhu were appointed as ECs on Thursday. They were selected by a panel chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The two vacancies had arisen in the ECs after the retirement of Anup Chandra Pandey on February 14 and the sudden resignation of Arun Goel.
The NGO has challenged the validity and sought a stay on the operation of section 7 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which excludes the CJI from the panel that picks the CEC and ECs.
