Says present system for appointing EC members does not inspire confidence among people
Senior BJP leader L.K. Advani called on Sunday for reforming the selection process to fill the posts of Election Commissioners and those in other constitutional bodies and demanded that a broad-based collegium handle all such appointments.
In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Mr. Advani said: “The present system, whereby members to the Election Commission are appointed by the President, solely on the advice of the Prime Minister, does not inspire confidence among the people. Keeping these important decisions as the exclusive preserve of the ruling party renders the selection process vulnerable to manipulation and partisanship.”
Mr. Advani's letter comes at a time when Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Qureshi is set to retire by this month-end, and there will be a vacancy in another constitutional body — the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India.
Notably, even the second Administrative Reforms Commission recommended in 2009 that the CEC and other members of the Election Commission be appointed by a collegium.
Mr. Advani urged Dr. Singh to ensure that the new member to the Election Commission was appointed by a broad-based collegium, comprising the Prime Minister as its chairman and the Chief Justice of India, the Minister of Law and Justice and the Leaders of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha as its members.
“Indeed, the credibility of this system was severely dented when a dubious appointment to the crucial office of the CEC was made a few years ago. The time has, therefore, come to reform the selection process for the EC and other constitutional bodies, as has indeed been done in the case of the CVC [the Central Vigilance Commissioner] and CIC [the Chief Information Commissioner],” he said.
Mr. Advani said: “There is a rapidly growing opinion in the country which holds that appointments to constitutional bodies such the Election Commission should be done on a bipartisan basis in order to remove any impression of bias, or lack of transparency and fairness. The people of India wish to see that only persons with competence, integrity and an impeccable record of service get appointed to these crucial bodies, whose functioning greatly determines the quality of governance.”
“Article 324 of the Constitution, which deals with the Election Commission of India, should be suitably amended. The phrasing of Article 324 (2) shows that this would not need any constitutional amendment and can be done through an ordinary enactment,” he said.
As a case in point, it is well-known that the present election
commission (particularly the CEC) has, on several occasions, taken on
the law minister, and also censured him for certain inappropriate
comments made during the UP elections.
If the same law minister were part of a collegium to choose the CEC from among the ECs, do you think the ECs would have been able to sign off on all those decisions against the law minister? Therefore, this decision, if taken up (needs an enactment) should be implemented for entry into the three member Election Commission, and not for elevation as Chief Election Commission.
Can the political parties take a vow to select upright candidates for elections? Since they are not willing to do so, the alternative is to elect the Election Commissioner neutrally so that at least, he or she will ensure elimination of candidates of dubious credentials. Mr L.K. Advani should advance a bill in the Parliament to ensure that no candidates with criminal records can be allowed to participate in any elections.
I totally agree with Advani Ji for better governance.
Is this the college that Advani wants to have the final say in appointing persons to constitutional positions? 2009 Lok Sabha data-Source: National Election Watch:May 16,2009. Affidavits available for MPs - 533 of 541 results MPs with criminal charges - 150 (28.14 %) MPs with serious criminal charges - 72 (13.51 %) Total criminal cases against MPs - 412 Total serious IPC sections against MPs – 213 The BJP led NDA consortium was elected to power in 2000 to provide an alternative and clean governance. When they failed at the end of 2004 to retain their mandate it was very clear that they had let down the country big time. Not only they did not meet expectations, they corrupted institutions to the core that we still suffer from it today. This was amply demonstrated in the repeat rejection in 2009 of the NDA combine. Religion, Caste and Political preference have nothing to do with honesty in public life and governance. We continue the experience 'from the frying pan to the fire'.
There is a rapidly growing opinion in the country which holds that political appointments to constitutional bodies such the Election Commission should be done on a NON-PARTISAN and on basis MERIT AND EXPERIENCE in order to remove any impression of bias, or lack of transparency and fairness. The people of India ALSO wish to see that only persons with competence, integrity and an impeccable record of service get appointed to SERVE AS SENIOR LEADERS IN POLITICAL PARTIES registered in India, whose functioning greatly determines the quality of governance of this great nation. Exceptions of experience be made for promotion of young generation leaders of clean record. The people of India also wish to see a mechanism in place that political parties are LEGALLY PREVENTED from nominating candidates of questionable reputation (especially ones with record of civil or criminal conviction in court of law which remains unchallenged or unsettled at least one year before nomination).
Unless the political parties represented by their presidents and active leaders show cause why they must be trusted by the people at large - after all they have done NOTHING to revoke people with questionable background from being nominated within their own parties as well as running for public office - they should be prevented from meddling with our constitution anymore. Let BJP, Congress and all major political parties demonstrate that they are not only mature democratic parties that prevent take over by corrupt persons or people of questionable back ground but they actually empower leaders without rhetoric who will never promote crony capitalism and lobbying at the pedestals of power. This they can do within their own parties. If they cannot then they are not they are not worthy of being called leaders (sic!) and Indians are not ready for real democracy.
Mr LK Advani, First ask for collegium to select the corrupt free and criminal record free candidates for election. Then you speak about election commissioners. They are doing good job with worst political candidates fighting election tooth and nail. Second, spend your energy in discussion to pass the Anna Hazare team's requests for Lok pal bill. What is your stand on this? none of the political party is ready to discuss about this. If you send correct candidates and fight election honestly election commissioner will do his job.
Think of it, T N Seshan (CEC from 1990-96) joined Congress party immediately after retirement and ran from Gandhinagar in 1999 elections on Congress ticket! M S Gill (CEC from 1996-99) also joined Congress party immediately after retirement and is now Rajya Sabha member and even minister in UPA govt! Navin Chawla (CEC from 2008-10) was already Congress appointee as the pro-Indira Gandhi Lt. Gov. of Delhi during the infamous Emergency period from 1975-77! I always used to wonder why only Congress party members (or those who became Congress politicians and ministers immediately after retirement) were always getting appointed to the Election Commission of India! Now I know, it is because in India, the ruling political party gets to select the Election Commission! This is a shame, we have such ridiculous and blatantly undemocratic processes, and call ourselves the largest democracy in the world?! The bipartisan collegium suggested above must be appointed immediately!
This is a very good suggestion for appointing top bureaucrats to these crucial and fundamentally apolitical constitutional positions in a democratic, bipartisan and unbiased manner. It is a shock that till now the govt (essentially, the ruling political party) had complete control over who was selected and appointed as the Chief Election Commissioner or the other two Election Commissioners, and even several other important constitutional offices such as the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. The recommendation by the Administrative Reforms Commission (and repeated by Advani in his letter) must be immediately implemented -- the bipartisan collegium suggested above would bring transparency and fairness to one of the most critical aspects of our electoral democracy.
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