Background: Why Was This Law Needed?
India’s Election Commission is the constitutional body responsible for overseeing free and fair elections across the country. Until now, the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners (ECs) was governed by the older Election Commission (Conditions of Service of Election Commissioners and Transaction of Business) Act, 1991. The 2023 Bill repeals that older law and replaces it with a more structured, transparent framework — largely in response to a Supreme Court ruling calling for a clearer selection process.
How Will Election Commissioners Be Appointed?
The new law introduces a two-tier selection process to bring more transparency to appointments.
First, a Search Committee — headed by the Union Law Minister and two senior bureaucrats of Secretary rank — shortlists a panel of five candidates. From that panel (though not limited to it), a Selection Committee then makes the final recommendation to the President.
The Selection Committee consists of:
- The Prime Minister (Chairperson)
- The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha (Member)
- A Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the Prime Minister (Member)
The President formally appoints the CEC and ECs based on this recommendation. Crucially, the Selection Committee retains the right to consider names beyond those on the shortlisted panel.
Who Is Eligible?
Candidates must have held — or currently hold — a post equivalent to Secretary to the Government of India. Beyond rank, they must demonstrate integrity and have knowledge and experience in managing and conducting elections.
Term of Office
Each Commissioner serves for a six-year term, or until they turn 65 years of age, whichever comes first. There is no re-appointment. If an Election Commissioner is elevated to Chief Election Commissioner, the combined total tenure across both roles cannot exceed six years.
Pay and Benefits
The CEC and ECs will be paid a salary equivalent to that of a Supreme Court Judge. They are also entitled to dearness allowance on par with Supreme Court Judges and can encash up to 50% of their earned leave at the end of their tenure. Serving officials who move to these roles are deemed to have retired from their previous service upon appointment, and may draw pension from that date if they choose.
Importantly, the Bill protects existing officials: those already serving cannot have their pay or benefits reduced by the new law.
Resignation and Removal
Any Commissioner may resign by writing to the President. The Chief Election Commissioner can only be removed in the same manner as a Supreme Court Judge — a very high bar, requiring a motion passed by a special majority in both Houses of Parliament. Other Election Commissioners cannot be removed without a recommendation from the Chief Election Commissioner.
Legal Protection
The Bill grants immunity from civil and criminal proceedings to sitting and former Commissioners for acts done in the discharge of their official duties. This is intended to insulate them from legal harassment while performing their constitutional functions.
How Decisions Are Made
The Election Commission is expected to work by unanimous agreement wherever possible. If the CEC and ECs disagree on a matter, the decision falls to the majority opinion.
Why Does This Matter?
The Election Commission is the guardian of India’s democratic process. The composition of the Selection Committee — and in particular, whether the inclusion of the Chief Justice of India (as directed by the Supreme Court in 2023) is reflected here — has been a subject of significant political and legal debate.
Critics have argued that a committee dominated by the ruling government undermines the independence of the appointment process, while supporters say the involvement of the Leader of Opposition provides a meaningful check. The law as passed does not include the Chief Justice of India in the Selection Committee, departing from the Supreme Court’s direction.
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Petrol in India is cheaper than in countries like Hong Kong, Germany and the UK but costlier than in China, Brazil, Japan, the US, Russia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, a Bank of Baroda Economics Research report showed.
Rising fuel prices in India have led to considerable debate on which government, state or central, should be lowering their taxes to keep prices under control.
The rise in fuel prices is mainly due to the global price of crude oil (raw material for making petrol and diesel) going up. Further, a stronger dollar has added to the cost of crude oil.
Amongst comparable countries (per capita wise), prices in India are higher than those in Vietnam, Kenya, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Venezuela. Countries that are major oil producers have much lower prices.
In the report, the Philippines has a comparable petrol price but has a per capita income higher than India by over 50 per cent.
Countries which have a lower per capita income like Kenya, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Venezuela have much lower prices of petrol and hence are impacted less than India.
“Therefore there is still a strong case for the government to consider lowering the taxes on fuel to protect the interest of the people,” the report argued.
India is the world’s third-biggest oil consuming and importing nation. It imports 85 per cent of its oil needs and so prices retail fuel at import parity rates.
With the global surge in energy prices, the cost of producing petrol, diesel and other petroleum products also went up for oil companies in India.
They raised petrol and diesel prices by Rs 10 a litre in just over a fortnight beginning March 22 but hit a pause button soon after as the move faced criticism and the opposition parties asked the government to cut taxes instead.
India imports most of its oil from a group of countries called the ‘OPEC +’ (i.e, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Russia, etc), which produces 40% of the world’s crude oil.
As they have the power to dictate fuel supply and prices, their decision of limiting the global supply reduces supply in India, thus raising prices
The government charges about 167% tax (excise) on petrol and 129% on diesel as compared to US (20%), UK (62%), Italy and Germany (65%).
The abominable excise duty is 2/3rd of the cost, and the base price, dealer commission and freight form the rest.
Here is an approximate break-up (in Rs):
a)Base Price | 39 |
b)Freight | 0.34 |
c) Price Charged to Dealers = (a+b) | 39.34 |
d) Excise Duty | 40.17 |
e) Dealer Commission | 4.68 |
f) VAT | 25.35 |
g) Retail Selling Price | 109.54 |
Looked closely, much of the cost of petrol and diesel is due to higher tax rate by govt, specifically excise duty.
So the question is why government is not reducing the prices ?
India, being a developing country, it does require gigantic amount of funding for its infrastructure projects as well as welfare schemes.
However, we as a society is yet to be tax-compliant. Many people evade the direct tax and that’s the reason why govt’s hands are tied. Govt. needs the money to fund various programs and at the same time it is not generating enough revenue from direct taxes.
That’s the reason why, govt is bumping up its revenue through higher indirect taxes such as GST or excise duty as in the case of petrol and diesel.
Direct taxes are progressive as it taxes according to an individuals’ income however indirect tax such as excise duty or GST are regressive in the sense that the poorest of the poor and richest of the rich have to pay the same amount.
Does not matter, if you are an auto-driver or owner of a Mercedes, end of the day both pay the same price for petrol/diesel-that’s why it is regressive in nature.
But unlike direct tax where tax evasion is rampant, indirect tax can not be evaded due to their very nature and as long as huge no of Indians keep evading direct taxes, indirect tax such as excise duty will be difficult for the govt to reduce, because it may reduce the revenue and hamper may programs of the govt.