The Centre has notified, following presidential assent, the new law that sidesteps a constitution bench ruling to preserve the government’s primacy in appointing the chief election commissioner and the other election commissioners.

With the law and justice ministry issuing the gazette notification late on Thursday night, the stage is set for a possible legal challenge to the new legislation by various organisations, particularly the ADR.

The NGO’s counsel, Prashant Bhushan, had told this newspaper that once the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023, was notified, it would be challenged before the Supreme Court.

The Lok Sabha passed the bill by voice vote recently against the backdrop of an unprecedented mass suspension of Opposition members.

Many see the Act as eroding the poll panel’s independence — an attribute key to the fairness of elections and the character of Indian democracy — by retaining the government’s primacy in the appointments of the CEC and ECs.

Last March, a five-judge Supreme Court bench had ruled that the selection committee that picks the CEC and the ECs "shall" include the Chief Justice of India (CJI), along with the Prime Minister and the leader of the Opposition or leader of the single largest Opposition party, whichever is appropriate.

The inclusion of the CJI was to help inject transparency into the appointment process and boost the poll panel’s independence. But the Act has replaced the CJI by "a Union cabinet minister to be nominated by the Prime Minister", thus giving the government majority say in the matter.