Supreme Court calls for committee including PM, Chief Justice of India, Leader of Opposition to appoint Election Commissioners
Election Commissioners will be appointed by the President on the advice of a committee consisting of the Prime Minister, leader of opposition in Lok Sabha and the CJI till a specific law is framed, the Court held.
The Supreme Court on Thursday held that the appointment of members of the Election Commission of India (ECI) should be done on the advice of a committee comprising the Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India and the Leader of Opposition (or the leader of single largest opposition party) in the Lok Sabha [Anoop Baranwal v. Union of India and ors].
A Constitution Bench of Justices KM Joseph, Ajay Rastogi, Aniruddha Bose, Hrishikesh Roy and CT Ravikumar said that this would be the setup until the Central government comes up with a law on appointments.
It said,
"The Election Commissioners will be appointed by the President of India on the advice of a committee consisting of the Prime Minister, and leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, or leader of largest opposition party in cases where there is not enough numerical strength for a leader of opposition, and the Chief Justice of India.
