New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a bill that seeks to replace the Chief Justice of India with a cabinet minister in the panel for selection of the chief election commissioner and election commissioners, claiming it will influence the fairness of elections.
According to the bill introduced in the Rajya Sabha, future chief election commissioners and election commissioners will be selected by a three-member panel headed by the Prime Minister and comprising the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha and a cabinet minister.
The bill comes months after the Supreme Court in March ruled that a three-member panel, headed by the Prime Minister and comprising the leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India, will select the CEC and ECs till a law is framed by Parliament on the appointment of these commissioners.
In a couple of posts on X (formerly Twitter), Kejriwal also accused Modi of not following the Supreme Court order and said this is a “very dangerous situation”.
“I had already said that the prime minister does not obey the Supreme Court of the country. His message is clear – he will bring a law through the Parliament to overturn whichever Supreme Court order he does not like. It is a very dangerous situation if the prime minister does not follow the Supreme Court,” Kejriwal said.
“The Supreme Court had formed an impartial committee which will select impartial election commissioners. The prime minister by overturning the Supreme Court has formed a committee that will be under his control and he could make a person of his liking election commissioner through it. It will influence impartiality of elections,” he said and alleged that “the prime minister is weakening Indian democracy through decision after decision”.
In another post, he wrote the committee proposed for selection of election commissioners will have “two BJP and one Congress members”. “Obviously the selected election commissioner will be loyal to the BJP,” the AAP convener said.
AAP national spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged that the Centre is “once again” overriding the Supreme Court’s decision after the Delhi services bill.
“After passing the Delhi services bill by going against the Supreme Court, the Centre is now trying to override another court order by introducing the bill on appointment of election commissioners. It is unfortunate that the institutions (ED, CBI, EC) that used to be viewed with utmost respect, are now facing allegations of siding with the Centre,” Bharadwaj said.
