The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a plea for stay of appointment of new election commissioners, saying it could create chaos before the elections.
A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna, Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih said that 2023 verdict nowhere says that there has to be a member from judiciary in selection panel for EC appointment.
While making the observations during a hearing, the court also noted that there are no allegations against the newly appointed election commissioners, Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, who were picked after changes were made to the selection panel under the new law.
However, the SC questioned the Centre over procedure adopted for appointment of two new election commissioners.
The Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023, had been passed by the Parliament last year and subsequently got the President's assent.
The new law replaced the Chief Justice of India on a committee to pick election commissioners with a Union Cabinet minister. The committee now has the Prime Minister, a Union Cabinet minister and the Leader of the Opposition, raising concerns over its impartiality.
After Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu were picked by the panel last week, Congress' leader in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had claimed he had been given 212 names for scrutiny the night before, and a shortlist of six names just before the meeting.