The Supreme Court has refused to stay the appointment of new election commissioners under 2023 law that excludes chief justice of India from selection panel hours after the newly appointed ECs Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu officially assumed their roles on Friday.
Kumar and Sandhu were slected as election commissioners on Thursday by the PM Modi-led panel.
This marked as a significant moment as they are the first individuals appointed to the poll panel under the new law governing the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners (ECs).
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What did Supreme Court say?
The Supreme Court bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna, Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih told the petitioners, who pointed out that a meeting for the selection of ECs was pre-poned, to file a separate application pointing out the fact.
Refusing to stay the appointments made in accordance with the 2023 law, the bench reportedly said, "Normally and generally, we do not stay a law by way of an interim order."
The court postponed the hearing on several requests challenging the selection of two ECs under the 2023 law.
Senior lawyer Vikas Singh, representing petitioner Jaya Thakur, argued that once a judgment is made, it should be respected without any violation. According to PTI, he claimed that there was a clear violation in the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023.
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CEC Rajiv Kumar extended warm welcome to to Kumar and Sandhu.
He emphasized that the time of their joining is very crucial as the Election Commission gearing up for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The vacancies in the Election Commission arose following the retirement of Anup Chandra Pandey on February 14 and the sudden resignation of Arun Goel on March 8.
Both Gyanesh Kumar and Sandhu are 1988-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers, hail from the Kerala and Uttarakhand cadres, respectively.
