Past Election Commission disputes offer context for India’s latest internal rift
A dispute involving India’s Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners has revived attention on earlier conflicts within the Election Commission. The Hindu’s review traces disagreements over appointments, powers, alleged bias and dissent from the commission’s single-member era to more recent controversies.
A dispute involving Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi has brought renewed attention to earlier internal conflicts at India’s Election Commission, according to an explainer by The Hindu. The commission was a single-member body for much of its early history. In 1989, the government expanded it by appointing two Election Commissioners, but the arrangement was revoked after a change of government.
The Supreme Court later held that the President had discretion to determine the number of commissioners. The commission became a permanent three-member body in 1993, when M.S. Gill and G.V.G.
Krishnamurthy were appointed alongside the Chief Election Commissioner. Legislation gave the Election Commissioners coordinate powers, addressing uncertainty over the relationship between the chief commissioner and the other members. The Supreme Court subsequently ruled in a case brought by Chief Election Commissioner T.N.
Seshan that decisions should be taken unanimously, or by majority where there was a difference of opinion. It said the Chief Election Commissioner’s position did not give him a higher status than the other commissioners. Another dispute emerged in 2009, when Chief Election Commissioner N.
Gopalaswami recommended the removal of Election Commissioner Navin Chawla, citing alleged bias. President Pratibha Patel rejected the recommendation. The Hindu reported that the legal basis for the Chief Election Commissioner acting independently on such a recommendation was contested.
In 2019, Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa questioned why his observations had not been recorded in an order concerning a complaint against BJP candidate Gulab Chand Kataria. Lavasa had also issued dissenting views on complaints involving campaign speeches by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP leader Amit Shah. The latest disagreement has therefore emerged against a history of disputes over the commission’s composition, decision-making powers and the recording of dissent.
The supplied material does not provide the full details of the current objections by Sandhu and Joshi.
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