Selecting poll officials: Contestants won't stop levelling allegations

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (appointment, conditions of service and term of office) Bill, 2023, passed by Parliament fills a gap that parties, jurists, and activists often mentioned. It sets out a selection committee consisting of the prime minister, leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha and a cabinet minister to recommend the names of CEC and ECs for appointment by the President. A designated search committee, headed by the Union law minister, will prepare a panel for consideration by the selection committee.

Eligibility conditions for candidates have been spelt out. Such provisions are significantly missing in the prevailing Election Commission (Conditions of Service of Election Commissioners and Transaction of Business) Act, 1991. The latest statutory intervention responds to the Supreme Court's observations made in March.

Selection mechanism for Commissioners then set by the top court was supposed to be an interim measure till Parliament made the necessary law and that has been initiated now.

Addressing anomaly

A study of other constitutional and statutory bodies in India and of peer Election Management Bodies (EMBs) across the world, suggests a broad-based selection of top election officials. While political campaigners fight a battle of perception before the electorate, election managers too, rely on the trust of stakeholders. That is why the apex court had called for «the banishing of the impression» of any impurity in appointment.

While pointing to the criticality of a strong and independent commission, the court had gone on to describe the EC as «guardian of citizenry and its fundamental rights». The new bill seeks to take the idea forward. Hence, it need not stir up a