Supreme Court refuses to hold appointment of poll officers ''at this stage''

The Supreme Court has on Thursday once again refused to order a stay on the law to appoint election commissioners, stating that doing so at this stage would be "creating chaos".

The court's remarks days after (on March 15) it had refused to stay the appointment of new Election Commissioners (ECs) under a 2023 law that excludes the Chief Justice of India from the selection committee.

The bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta said, "You cannot say that the Election Commission is under the thumb of the executive. At this stage, we cannot stay the legislation, and it will lead to only chaos and uncertainty."

The Supreme Court bench also said, "The Election Commission has to be independent and fair." "Normally and generally, we do not stay a law by way of an interim order," the bench said.

Pointing out to the petitioners that it cannot be presumed that the law enacted by the Centre is wrong, the bench added, "There are no allegations against the persons who have been appointed... Elections are around the corner. Balance of convenience is very important." 

The Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023, had been passed by the Parliament last year and subsequently got the President's assent. 

The new law replaced the Chief Justice of India on a committee to pick election commissioners with a Union Cabinet minister. The committee now has the Prime Minister, a Union Cabinet minister and the Leader of the Opposition, raising concerns over its impartiality.