PM Modi will chair the first meeting for new election commissioner under the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023 to replace Anup Chandra Pandey who is the present Election Commissioner of India Notably, Anup Chandra Pandey will retire from his post on February 15, 2024.
According to the new act, which came into place on January 2, the President of Bharat will appoint Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners upon the recommendation of a Selection Committee which includes Prime Minister, a Cabinet minister, and the leader of Opposition or leader of the biggest opposition party in the Lok Sabha.
Importantly, the search committee recommends five names to the selection committee, the latter has the accountability to select commissioners from the outside as well.
Authorities aware of the matter said that Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and the Congress’s floor leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury were expected to be in the meeting that is supposed to take place at the PM’s residential office on Wednesday.
Earlier, CEC and ECs were appointed by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the council of ministers under the seal of the President.
In an order in March last year, the Supreme Court called for a law on how the CECs and ECs should be taken, stating that no such mechanism existed at the time.
It formed a three-member panel which included the Prime Minister, the leader of the largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha, and the Chief Justice of India (CJI).
Notably, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) was replaced by a Cabinet Minister, when the law came into practice which gave the government a 2-1 majority in the panel.
Notably, the bill was made an act on January 2, 2024 and the appointment process is in progress.
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