Is India's Election Commission still truly independent? Two developments happened sometime back.
The first is the most basic one of all: who gets to choose the people who run our elections?
For decades, the government chose them alone. In 2023, the Supreme Court said they should be picked by a neutral panel, the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and the Chief Justice of India, to build independence into the process, but only until Parliament made its own law. And when it did, it replaced the Chief Justice with a minister chosen by the Prime Minister, giving the government two votes on a three-member panel.
That law was challenged for diluting the very independence the court had protected. The government replied that Parliament can legislate, and the court's formula was only temporary. The two judges hearing it disagreed: one said the issue was settled, the other said it needed a larger bench, so it now goes to the Chief Justice.
The question is not simply about who has the legal power to make appointments. It is also about whether the process inspires confidence among voters, political parties, and the public.
The second development is the one that caught my attention as a lawyer, because it is about what is happening inside the Commission itself. An Indian Express investigation reported that two of the three sitting Election Commissioners had, on record, objected at least fourteen times in ten months to steps taken in the name of the poll panel, including the big voter-roll revision. The Commission says every decision was unanimous and lawful.
Now set the politics aside, because the principle underneath is neutral and old. One of the judges put it perfectly: if an umpire is chosen by the captain of the winning team, even his correct calls carry a shadow of suspicion. It is not enough for the Election Commission to be independent. It must also be seen to be independent.
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