What Ravi Shankar Prasad said on question of exclusion of CJI from Election Commissioner selection process?
The issue of electoral reforms is being debated in Parliament. Congress leaders raised the issue of removing the Chief Justice of India (CJI) from the Election Commissioner selection process in the Lok Sabha, which began on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, BJP MP and former Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad responded to this.
He said, "A law was made for the selection of the Election Commissioner, and the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition are involved. What do you want from the Leader of the Opposition? You won't go there (in the selection process) without the support of the Chief Justice?"
Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "We all respect the judiciary. But is it correct to involve the judiciary in everything? Isn't this against the separation of powers? And aren't we showing our weakness? We won't be able to do anything on our own until the CJI is appointed. This is not good for democracy."
He asked, "Does India's political system not elect the President? Does it not elect the Vice President? Does it not elect the Army Chief and the Naval Chief? Does the Prime Minister of India not have the nuclear button?"
Prasad said, "The people of the country believe in the Prime Minister and the polity, the security, economic, and political strategy of the country. India's elected government can do so much, but it cannot elect a good Chief Election Commissioner. What is this being said?"
During the discussion, several Congress leaders, including Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, questioned the exclusion of the CJI from the selection process for Election Commissioners.
Prakash Kumar Pandey