Congress, BJP push their views in LS over CJI being on panel to select CEC

New Delhi: Two senior leaders of the ruling BJP and Congress on Wednesday debated in the Lok Sabha whether the panel to select the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners (ECs) has the Chief Justice of India as a member.

Participating in the debate on ‘election reforms’, Congress’ KC Venugopal questioned the government on excluding the CJI from the election committee to appoint CEC and fellow ECs.

A Supreme Court bench headed by now-retired judge KM Joseph had directed that till a law on appointment of CEC and ECs is framed, the selection committee should have the prime minister, the CJI, and the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha as its members.

But when the government came up with a Bill on the subject, it proposed a selection committee headed by the prime minister with a Union Cabinet minister named by the prime minister, and the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha as members.

The Bill was later passed by Parliament.

Venugopal questioned the exclusion of the CJI and sought a response from the law minister.

Speaking immediately after Venugopal, senior BJP leader and former Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad asserted that when an elected government headed by the prime minister can be trusted with the nuclear button, why can’t it be the case when selecting a good CEC or EC.

He wondered why the judiciary should be included in everything when the legislature in its wisdom has passed a law with a selection committee that excluded the CJI.

Prasad claimed Venugopal agreed that the selection panel proposed by the SC bench was only an interim arrangement.

On Tuesday, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had alleged that the CEC was appointed after the CJI was removed from the selection panel.

Responding sharply, the BJP asked: “Can Rahul Gandhi name one Election Commissioner during the Congress government who was chosen by a committee that included either the Chief Justice of India or the Leader of the Opposition?”

On its official X handle, the BJP wrote: “The committee was created temporarily until a new law was enacted. Until then, Congress Prime Ministers directly appointed Election Commissioners.” The party further questioned Gandhi’s memory of the UPA era, stating, “Did Rahul Gandhi forget his own government’s record? In 2005, Sonia Gandhi appointed Navin Chawla as Election Commissioner. What authority did Sonia

Gandhi have?”