Kozhikode, Jan 11 (PTI) Former CEC S Y Quraishi on Thursday rued that he was appointed as the Chief Election Commissioner in 2010 by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh without consulting the then Leader of Opposition (LoP) Sushma Swaraj, as there was no such provision in the Constitution then.
Speaking here at the inaugural day of the seventh edition of the Kerala Literature Festival (KLF), the 76-year-old former bureaucrat said he would have definitely “felt stronger” had his appointment as the CEC been made after consultation with the then LoP as that would have been a “proof of him being accepted across party lines”.
“I was appointed by the system which was that the government of the day could appoint anybody. Because there is no provision in the Constitution or the law prescribing who should be elected, what will be his qualification, there is nothing so far, except now in the Act (The Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023).
“Even when I was the CEC, I used to regret the fact that I was appointed by the PM directly without consulting the Leader of the Opposition,” said Quraishi in a session discussing his book ‘India’s Experiment with Democracy’.
Quraishi, who served as the 17th CEC of India, is far from happy with the recently passed Act too, despite it including the ‘LoP or leader of the largest opposition party in Lok Sabha’ along with the PM and a Union Cabinet Minister in the panel for the selection of the CEC and election commissioners (ECs).
According to Quraishi, the panel is “not independent” and along with 2:1 in favour of the government of the day, it has already made the role of LoP “zero”.
“This collegium will have the PM, his nominated minister and the LoP, which means it is 2:1. The role of LoP is made zero already. This is such an important post which should be accepted by everybody across party lines and this is not an independent collegium. This is not going to work,” he reasoned.
The apex court in March 2023 heard the petitions seeking a collegium-like system to appoint the CEC and ECs. In its order, the Supreme Court directed the government to set up a panel including the PM, the Chief Justice of India, and the Opposition leader for the appointment of the country’s key election officers.
However, in the Bill, passed in December last year, the government replaced the Chief Justice of India with a Union Minister.
According to the 1971-batch Haryana cadre IAS officer, the ruling party doing this is “paradoxical” because it was the BJP which, from 2008-2010, had been proposing a broad-based collegium for such appointments.
“What happened to that thought? Has the logic changed now? Everyone should remember, no party, no PM is there for forever. Governments change, so you have to take such decisions in the interest of the nation, and not in the interest of your immediate next elections,” he added.
Historian William Dalrymple, Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi, actor Prakash Raj, American physician-author Abraham Verghese, award-winning author Perumal Murugan and comedian Kanan Gill are among the 400 noted personalities attending the festival.
The discussions during the four-day festival will revolve around several themes, including science and technology, literature, art, gender, cinema, culture and environment. PTI MG KSS CK CK
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