Take politics out of appointments to poll panel, says its chief

NHRC model where Leader of the Opposition is in selection committee is better than the one used for EC postings, says CEC Gopalaswami

Breaking his silence for the first time since the BJP raised objections to Navin Chawla’s presence on the Election Commission, Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami has said that the ECs need to have broader acceptance and the process of their appointment needs to be bipartisan.

In a recorded interview to The Sunday Express, Gopalaswami said, “The appointments (to the post of Election Commissioners) should have across-the-board acceptance than what we have now…The decision-making process (that leads to the appointment of the members of the Commission) has to be bipartisan.”

The Election Commissioners are appointed by the President of India on the advice of the Prime Minister and his Cabinet.

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“My predecessor (B B Tandon) had already made his view clear,” said Gopalaswami, referring to a proposal to insulate the ECs’ appointment from politics. According to this proposal, which is pending before the Government, the Leader of the Opposition and the Chief Justice of India or a Supreme Court judge should be included in the panel that will have the Prime Minister and the Law Minister.

As of now, there is no consultative process behind the ECs’ appointments — it’s decided between the Law Minister and the Prime Minister with the President notifying the appointment.

“I favour the model used by the National Human Rights Commission over the one used for the EC,” said Gopalaswami. In the NHRC model, the Leader of the Opposition is also one of the members in the selection committee along with the PM, the Speaker and the Home Minister.

“In some countries, the names of the Election Commissioners are debated in the legislature before the final decision is taken,” said Gopalaswami.

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On the pending ruling on the BJP’s controversial anti-minority CD case, the CEC indicated that it would be out “very soon” and the “soon” could be before the last phase of UP elections. “It is a procedural delay as the EC order needs to be signed by all. One signature is still pending.”

Gopalaswami said that the UP elections had helped the EC put in a “format” for next elections: cleaning the rolls, mapping of vulnerable voters that helped people in certain pockets coming out to vote for the first time, transfers of key officials, 100 per cent ID-card coverage and targeted drives to get women to vote.