New Delhi: The Lok Sabha on Thursday (December 21) passed the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023 that provides for the appointment, salary and removal of the chief election commissioner (CEC) and election commissioners (ECs).
The Bill was first introduced during the monsoon session in August and came months after a constitution bench of the Supreme Court ruled in March that election commissioners should be appointed by the president based on advice from a committee comprising the prime minister, the leader of opposition (LOP) in the Lok Sabha and the chief justice of India (CJI).
Bill passed in less than two hours with 12 MPs speaking
The Bill’s passage in the Lok Sabha on Thursday took place after a debate that lasted about an hour and 40 minutes, and in the absence of the 97 opposition MPs who have been suspended for demanding a statement from Union home minister Amit Shah on the parliament security breach last week.
After the Bill was passed, another three members of the opposition were suspended, taking the total number of suspensions in the Lok Sabha to 100, and those in both houses to 146.
The debate saw the participation of 12 MPs, mostly from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other parties friendly to it, including the YSRCP, Shiv Sena, BJD and TDP.
The only speaker that opposed the Bill in the Lok Sabha was AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here .