Supreme Court Defers Urgent Hearing on Election Commissioners’ Appointment Law Challenge

Last Updated on February 19, 2025 by Amit Patra

In a dramatic u-turn for election democracy in India, the Supreme Court today rejected a plea to hear urgently as a protest against the new appointment of Election Commissioners law, so recently as the promotion of Gyanesh Kumar to Chief Election Commissioner.

Senior Counsel Prashant Bhushan, acting on behalf of Association for Democratic Reforms, asked Justice Surya Kant to accord top priority to the hearing, saying that the new appointments were “making a mockery” of the Supreme Court’s Constitution Bench direction in Anoop Baranwal. Ignoring Bhushan’s assurance that the matter would consume 15-20 minutes and was “exceedingly important for the future of our democracy,” the Court held onto the existing listing as item 41.

The petitions are against the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which vehemently destroyed the Chief Justice of India from the appointment panel. The amendment is against the Supreme Court’s March 2023 order that made it mandatory for the panel to be composed of the Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition, and Chief Justice of India so that appointments would be free from the executive.

Election Commissioners are now appointed by a committee of the Prime Minister, a Union Cabinet Minister, and the Leader of Opposition under the new Act. The legislation was passed in December 2023, which has triggered numerous legal challenges like Congress leader Jaya Thakur’s petitions and civil society groups.

Justice Kant instructed the petitioners to renew their reference upon urgent matters tomorrow, noting that the Court already rejected calls for suspending the effect of the Act. Adding to the exigency of the situation is that the past three appointments were all done under the new procedure while constitutional challenges linger.