EC bill has 'many positives'; 'downgrading' of position of ECs to level of cabinet secretary needs re-look: Ex-CEC Quraishi

New Delhi: Former chief election commissioner S Y Quraishi has said the bill on the appointment of election commissioners has "many positive features", even as he flagged concerns over the composition of the selection panel and the "downgrading" of the position of members of the poll panel to the level of a cabinet secretary.

In an interview with PTI on his new book titled 'India's Experiment with Democracy: The Life of a Nation Through its Elections', Quraishi said the positive features include prescription of qualification for the selection of election commissioners.

"Till today, there was no qualification (prescribed), anyone from the street can be picked up and made an election commissioner which was not good. The new bill says that only secretary-rank officers or their equivalents will be posted which is a good thing," said Quraishi, who served as Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) from July 2010 to June 2012.

"It (the bill) also talks of a shortlisting committee that is also a good idea because that is a practice in many countries, except that the composition can be improved a little and the most important thing is that we have been demanding protection from removal which is available to the CEC should be extended to the two election commissioners also. So, this new bill proposes that, this is an important thing," he said.

"What calls for a re-look is that the position is being downgraded from the position of Supreme Court judges to the cabinet secretary which is not an advisable thing to do because India's election commission has become a 'vishwaguru'....In ten years, 108 countries' commissioners have been trained from us. Half the countries of the world have judges as election commissioners, they will feel a little uncomfortable dealing with the bureaucracy here," he said.

The government in August had introduced in the Rajya Sabha 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, amid an uproar by the opposition.

Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal moved the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023 in the Upper House, where it is pending.

According to the bill, 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.

Opposition parties, including the Congress and the AAP, have raised strong objections to the bill and accused the government of diluting a Supreme Court Constitution bench order.

The bill comes months after the Supreme Court in March ruled that the selection panel should comprise the prime minister, the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India (CJI), till a law is framed by Parliament on the appointment of the chief election commissioner (CEC) and election commissioners (ECs).

According to the 1bill, the salary and allowances of the chief election commissioner and election commissioners will be equivalent to that of the cabinet secretary. Under the present law governing the service and conduct of the CEC and ECs, they are paid a salary which is equal to the salary of a Supreme Court judge.