NEW DELHI: The Congress on Friday criticised the Narendra Modi government for introducing a bill seeking to replace the chief justice of India (CJI) with a cabinet minister in the committee for the appointment of chief election commissioners (CECs) and election commissioners (ECs).Congress MP and general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh, in a post on X, quoted a letter written by the then BJP parliamentary party chairperson L K Advani to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the appointments to constitutional bodies such as Election Commissioner.Ramesh wrote, “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.”He said, “No, this isn’t a Modi critic.

This is an excerpt from the second para of a letter from Advani to then PM Dr Manmohan Singh on 2nd June, 2012.

You can still find the letter on BJP’s website.

(https://bjp.org/images/pdf_2011/letter_advaniji_june_03_12e.pdf) To select the CEC and the Election Commissioners, the committee he proposed comprised the CJI along with leaders of the Opposition from both Houses of Parliament.” The Congress leader said the CEC Bill brought by the Modi government is not only against what Advani proposed but also overturns a five-judge constitution bench judgment from March 2, which said: “In order to allow independence in the functioning of the Election Commission as a Constitutional body, the office of Chief Election Commissioners as well as the Election Commissioners have to be insulated from the executive interference.”Ramesh observed that in its current form, the CEC Bill will ensure executive interference with its 2:1 dominance of the committee.

“This coming from the Modi government in an election year further cements the view that Mr Modi wants to ensure control over the Election Commission,” he added.The letter written by Advani to Singh said, “A vacancy will arise in the Election Commission with the retirement of the Chief Election Commissioner, Shri S Y Qureshi, later this month.

How this vacancy will be filled is a matter that has generated both interest and concern in equal measure… 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.”Advani further 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 evoke 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.

Indeed, the credibility of this system was severely dented when a dubious appointment to the crucial office of 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 and CIC.”He said in respect of the CVC and the CIC, the change has come about because of the intervention of the Supreme Court.

Let the wholesome change come this time as a result of an initiative taken by the executive, he added.Advani mentioned that even the Second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC), which had been appointed by the Singh government, recommended in its report in 2009 that the CEC and other members of the Election Commission be appointed by a collegium.

Significantly, this recommendation appeared in ARC's report on Ethics in Governance, he said.He suggested that the new member to the Election Commission be appointed by a broad-based collegium comprising the prime minister as the chairman and CJI, law and justice minister, leader of opposition (Lok Sabha) and leader of opposition (Rajya Sabha) as its members.

He also suggested amending Article 324 of the Constitution which deals with the Election Commission of India.

The phrasing of Article 324 (2) shows that this would not need any Constitutional Amendment and can be done by an ordinary enactment.The Modi government’s bill seeks to replace the CJI with a cabinet minister in the committee for the appointment of CEC and ECs.

The opposition created an uproar to oppose the contentious bill.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 Rajya Sabha in the post-lunch session.As per the bill, future CECs and ECs will be selected by a three-member committee 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, raised strong objections to the bill accusing 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 CJI, till a law is framed by Parliament on the appointment of the CEC and ECs.