Former Supreme Court Justice Rohinton Nariman has expressed grave concern over the functioning of the Election Commission of India (ECI), particularly large scale voter exclusion and executive interference in appointments to the electoral body.
In a speech delivered on September 27, Justice warned that the citizens’s right to vote is facing unprecedented threats.
“The common man today under our Constitution, and if I may say so, the heart of our Constitution, the heart of our democracy, which is the right to vote, is in great peril,” Justice Nariman stated.
He pointed out that an astounding number of 90 lakh were disenfranchised. 22 lakh affected citizens filed appeals against the ECI decision, and among the 1 lakh appeals decided, an overwhelming 93 percent verdicts eventually came in favour of the excluded, he said.
“So can you imagine, this was a completely illegal knocking out of the common man, of the citizen of India, in order that a government obtains what it wants. And the result of that you saw in West Bengal was something that upset the government of the day and brought in the government of the centre,” he said.
He was speaking at the Centenary Oration on ‘The Constitution and the Common Man
Justice Nariman was also critical of legislative changes governing the selection of Election Commissioners in 2023. He referred to the order in the Anoop Baranwal case where the Supreme Court recommended a neutral selection panel comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the Chief Justice of India.
However, the parliament replaced the Chief Justice with a Union Cabinet Minister, effectively restoring executive dominance over appointments. “So that again, you are back to square one,” he remarked.
He urged the apex court to intervene urgently to rectify the situation and safeguard the integrity of elections.
He referred to reports by Indian Express that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had objected to the decisions taken by the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) on 14 occasions.
Justice Nariman emphasised that the Supreme Court must ensure a balanced selection mechanism to preserve public trust.
“I hope that the apex court, an institution to which I once belonged, steps in immediately and rectifies these things. You cannot have an election commission, which functions or malfunctions,” the former judge said.