The Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023 is a parliamentary statute that establishes a formal statutory framework for the appointment, tenure, and service conditions of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners (ECs). This Act was enacted to implement the constitutional mandate under Article 324(2), which allows Parliament to legislate on the appointment process for the Election Commission of India (ECI).
The Act's origin lies in the Supreme Court's judgment in Anoop Baranwal v. Union of India (2023), which addressed the problem of the executive having unilateral control over appointments in the absence of a specific law. The Court had temporarily mandated that appointments be made on the recommendation of a committee comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and the Chief Justice of India (CJI), until Parliament passed a law.
The 2023 Act replaced the earlier Election Commission (Conditions of Service of Election Commissioners and Transaction of Business) Act, 1991. The key mechanism of the new Act is a two-tier selection process. A Search Committee, headed by the Cabinet Secretary, prepares a panel of five eligible candidates. The President then makes the final appointment based on the recommendation of a Selection Committee.
The Selection Committee, defined in the Act, consists of the Prime Minister as Chairperson, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha (or the leader of the single largest opposition party), and a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the Prime Minister. This composition is the most significant change, as it replaces the CJI from the Supreme Court's interim committee with a Union Cabinet Minister. The Act also specifies that the CEC and ECs must be persons who have held a post equivalent to Secretary to the Government of India. Their term of office remains six years or until they attain the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. Furthermore, the Act changes the service conditions, equating the salary and allowances of the CEC and ECs to that of the Cabinet Secretary, which was previously equivalent to a Supreme Court Judge under the 1991 Act.