Brief by Shorts91 Newsdesk / 08:55am on 21 Dec 2023,Thursday India
The Lok Sabha has passed the bill to regulate appointments of top election officers, after it was already cleared by the Rajya Sabha. The highly contentious bill aims to establish procedures for selecting the three Election Commissioners, but conflicts with the Supreme Court's direction that they should be chosen by a panel including the Chief Justice of India. The new law drops the CJI from the selection committee in an attempt to limit judicial oversight. A key amendment is a clause protecting election commissioners from lawsuits over actions taken in their official capacity. Courts cannot entertain civil or criminal cases against current or former election commissioners for acts done in discharging duties. The bill's passage comes despite opposition objections over its impact on the independence of the election body.
