A Selection Committee of three and a Search Committee under the Cabinet Secretary: picking the poll panel

Background

Article 324 of the Constitution places the Election Commission in the hands of the Chief Election Commissioner and as many Election Commissioners as the President fixes, and leaves their appointment to a law made by Parliament. Parliament made that law in 2023; it replaced the 1991 statute on the conditions of service of Election Commissioners and the transaction of the Commission's business, and it came from the Ministry of Law and Justice. Under the 2023 Act the President appoints the Chief Election Commissioner and the Election Commissioners on the recommendation of a Selection Committee. That committee has the Prime Minister, a Union Cabinet Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, or the leader of the largest opposition party there, and its recommendation holds even if there is a vacancy in the committee itself. A Search Committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary first puts up a panel of names, and only a person who holds or has held a post equivalent to Secretary to the central government is eligible. The Act as passed pays them a salary equal to that of a judge of the Supreme Court, the benchmark the 1991 law had used; the Bill as introduced had pegged salary and conditions of service to those of the Cabinet Secretary and was amended before it was passed. The Commission itself prepares the electoral rolls and conducts elections to Parliament, the State legislatures and the offices of President and Vice-President. The Supreme Court has issued notice on petitions challenging Section 16 of the 2023 Act, which stops a court from taking up, or going on with, a civil or criminal case against a serving or former Commissioner over acts done in the discharge of official duties.