Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act 2023

Also called: CEC and ECs Act 2023, Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act 2023 · Topic: Elections and the Electoral System · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 3 "Election and Representation"

Meaning

The Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023 is the law Parliament made under Article 324(2). It sets out how the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and the Election Commissioners (ECs) are chosen, paid and protected, and how long they serve.

• How appointment works. A Search Committee headed by the Law Minister draws up a shortlist. A Selection Committee of the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha and a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the PM then recommends a name. The President appoints that person [2][4].
• Why it matters. The Act replaced the temporary panel set by the Supreme Court in Anoop Baranwal (2023), which included the Chief Justice of India (CJI). Without the CJI, the government side now holds 2 of the 3 votes. This raises a live question about how independent the Election Commission of India (ECI) really is.

Explanation

Why Parliament made this law

• Article 324(2) says the President appoints the CEC and ECs "subject to the provisions of any law made by Parliament" [5].
• Until 2023 there was no such law.
• So the President appointed them on the advice of the Council of Ministers. In practice, this was the Prime Minister's choice.

• Reform bodies wanted the LoP and the CJI involved: the Dinesh Goswami Committee (1990) and the Law Commission, 255th Report (2015).

• In Anoop Baranwal v. Union of India (2 March 2023), the Supreme Court found a "legislative vacuum" (Parliament had not made the law that Art. 324(2) expects) [5].

• As a pro-tem (temporary) step, it ordered a panel of PM + LoP + CJI.

• That panel was to last only until Parliament made a law [5].

• The 2023 Act is that law.

• It also replaced the system under the 1991 Act, the earlier law on ECs' service conditions [2].

How appointment works: four steps

1. Search Committee shortlists (s.6). - It is headed by the Minister of Law and Justice. - It has two other members of at least Secretary rank to the Government of India. - It prepares a panel of five names [3][4].

2. Selection Committee recommends (s.7(1)). - Its members are the PM (Chairperson), the LoP in the Lok Sabha and a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the PM [4]. - If no LoP is recognised, the leader of the single largest opposition party counts as the LoP [5].

3. The Selection Committee may look outside the panel (s.8). It is not bound by the shortlist.

4. The President appoints on the Selection Committee's recommendation [2]. - A vacancy on the Selection Committee does not make an appointment invalid (s.7(2)). - The central change: the CJI is dropped and a Cabinet Minister takes the seat. The government side now holds 2 of 3 votes.

Eligibility, term and service conditions

• Eligibility: a person who holds, or has held, a post equal to Secretary to the Government of India, with expertise in managing elections [2][4].
• Term: six years or until age 65, whichever comes first. No re-appointment [2].
• Salary: equal to a Supreme Court judge's [4].
• Other conditions (travel allowance, medical facilities and so on): set by rules made by the President [3][4].
• Removal: the Act restates the Constitution [3].
• The CEC is removed like a Supreme Court judge.

• An EC is removed only on the CEC's recommendation.

• Immunity (s.15A): no civil or criminal case can be brought against a serving or former CEC or EC for acts done in official duty [3].

How the Bill changed before it was passed (December 2023)

Feature	Bill as introduced (Aug 2023)	Act as passed (Dec 2023)
Head of Search Committee	Cabinet Secretary [2]	Law Minister + 2 Secretaries [3]
Salary	Equal to Cabinet Secretary [2]	Equal to a Supreme Court judge [3][4]
Removal	—	Restates the Constitution: CEC removed like an SC judge; ECs only on the CEC's recommendation [3]
Legal protection	None	New s.15A immunity [3]

• The opposition moved two amendments. Neither made it into the Act [3]:
• one to put the CJI in place of the Cabinet Minister;
• one to stop the Selection Committee from looking outside the panel.

In the Constitution and practice

• Constitutional base.
• Art. 324(2) lets Parliament make a law on appointments.

• Art. 324(5) protects the CEC's tenure (security of tenure means a member cannot be removed easily or for political reasons).

  • First proviso: the CEC is removed only "in like manner and on the like grounds" as a Supreme Court judge. The CEC's conditions of service cannot be changed to his or her disadvantage after appointment.
  • Second proviso: an EC is removed only on the CEC's recommendation.

• How the Bill passed [2][5]:

Date	Step
10 August 2023	Introduced in the Rajya Sabha
12 December 2023	Passed by the Rajya Sabha [2]
21 December 2023	Passed by the Lok Sabha [2]
2 January 2024	Came into force [5]

• Removing the CEC. The Act keeps the Constitution's process, which is the same as for a Supreme Court judge (Art. 124(4)): 1. A removal motion is moved in either House. The grounds must be proved misbehaviour or incapacity. 2. The Lok Sabha passes it by special majority. 3. The Rajya Sabha passes it by special majority. 4. An address goes to the President in the same session. 5. The President orders removal.

• Special majority has two parts, and both must be met: two-thirds of members present and voting, and more than half of the total membership of the House.

• First use of the Act (March 2024).

• Two posts fell vacant. EC Anup Chandra Pandey retired on 14 February 2024. EC Arun Goel resigned on 9 March 2024 [5].
• Search Committee: formed on 1 February 2024. It was chaired by the Minister of State, Law and Justice, with the Home Secretary and the Secretary, DoPT [5].
• Selection Committee: the PM, the Home Minister and the LoP [5].
• 14 March 2024: the Search Committee gave six names for the two posts. The Selection Committee recommended Gyanesh Kumar and Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, and the President approved them the same day [5].
• 15 March 2024: both took charge. They were 1988-batch IAS officers from the Kerala and Uttarakhand cadres [6].

• Gyanesh Kumar became CEC in February 2025.

• Court challenge: Jaya Thakur v. Union of India.

• Interim order of 22 March 2024 (2024 INSC 246; Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta) [5]:
  • The claim: s.7(1) dilutes Anoop Baranwal by putting a Cabinet Minister in place of the CJI [5].
  • Stay refused. A stay is a court order that pauses a law. The Court said courts rarely pause a law before ruling on whether it is valid. A stay would also disturb the 18th Lok Sabha general election (19 April – 1 June 2024) and cause "chaos" [5].
  • On Anoop Baranwal: that panel was only a stop-gap. The Court cannot tell Parliament how to write a law. But it can strike down a law that violates Fundamental Rights (judicial review, the courts' power to cancel laws that break the Constitution) [5].
  • On the process: the LoP got the shortlist only minutes before the meeting. The Court also said s.6's "five names" seems to mean ten names for two posts, not six [5].
  • On a multi-member ECI: two more ECs bring "a balance and check". The idea of plurality (more than one member) is "necessary and desirable" [5].
• Order of 23 September 2026:
  • a two-judge bench split on whether a Constitution Bench (five or more judges) must hear the case;
  • it sent the papers to the CJI to set up a bench to decide whether ss.6-8 are valid;
  • the final decision is still pending.

Don't confuse with

• Anoop Baranwal panel (2023): this was a temporary, court-made panel of PM + LoP + CJI. The 2023 Act is a law of Parliament whose panel is PM + LoP + a Cabinet Minister. The Act has no CJI.
• Search Committee vs Selection Committee: the Search Committee (Law Minister + 2 Secretaries) only shortlists names. The Selection Committee (PM + LoP + Cabinet Minister) recommends the person to the President, and it may pick from outside the shortlist (s.8).
• Removal of the CEC vs removal of an EC: only the CEC is removed like a Supreme Court judge, by special majority in both Houses. An EC is removed by the President only on the CEC's recommendation.
• State Election Commissions (SECs): SECs run panchayat and municipal elections under Arts. 243K / 243ZA. They are outside the 2023 Act and independent of the ECI.

Prelims Hooks

• Art. 324(2) says the President appoints the CEC and ECs "subject to … any law made by Parliament". The 2023 Act is the first such law [5].
• Selection Committee under s.7(1): PM (Chairperson) + LoP in the Lok Sabha + a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the PM. The CJI is not a member [4].
• Search Committee under s.6: headed by the Law Minister, with 2 Secretary-rank members, and it prepares a panel of five [3][4]. The Bill as introduced had the Cabinet Secretary as head [2].
• Service conditions: 6 years or age 65, whichever comes first, with no re-appointment [2]. Salary is equal to a Supreme Court judge's; the Bill as introduced said Cabinet Secretary [2][3].
• s.15A gives immunity from civil and criminal cases for official acts, to serving and former CECs and ECs [3].
• Trap: Jaya Thakur (22 March 2024) refused to stay the Act [5]. The first ECs chosen under it were Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, appointed on 14 March 2024 [5] and taking charge on 15 March 2024 [6].

Mains Points

• Independence vs executive control.
• Anoop Baranwal tried to stop the government from having sole control over who becomes CEC or EC.
• The 2023 Act gives the government a 2:1 majority. It also lets the committee pick from outside the shortlist (s.8) and allows shortlists given at short notice, which the Court criticised in its March 2024 order [5].

• The counter-view is separation of powers (each branch of government keeps to its own role). The Court itself said it cannot dictate how Parliament writes the law, and can only use judicial review [5].

• Status and accountability.

• Setting the salary at a Supreme Court judge's level raised the ECI's status [3].
• But s.15A immunity [3] raises a question: does it protect independence, or does it weaken accountability?

• The Act bars re-appointment [2] but does not stop a former CEC or EC from taking a government post or joining politics after retirement.

• Unfinished reform agenda.

• T.N. Seshan (1995) gave all members an equal vote, yet an EC can still be removed on the CEC's recommendation alone.
• Reform proposals, which can draw on Goswami (1990) and the Law Commission's 255th Report (2015), include:
  • equal removal protection for ECs;
  • an independent secretariat (today the ECI depends on government staff under Art. 324(6));
  • charged expenditure, meaning the ECI's budget comes from the Consolidated Fund without a vote in Parliament;
  • a neutral selection panel.

Related concepts

• Election Commission of India
• Chief Election Commissioner
• Election Commissioners
• Multi-member Election Commission
• T.N. Seshan case
• Anoop Baranwal case

Read more

• The Election Commission: composition, appointment and independence