Jagan Reddy Seeks Review of Election Commissioner Appointment Law

YSR Congress Party president and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has urged a rethink of the law that governs how the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners are appointed, saying public confidence in the poll body must be restored.

His statement comes amid an escalating dispute over the Election Commission and the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Opposition parties have intensified their criticism after media reports claimed that two Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, recorded objections at least 14 times over ten months on matters relating to electoral rolls and access to the poll body's database. The reports have led to demands for the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and for the SIR to be halted.

In a post on X, Reddy said democracy can endure only when citizens have complete faith in constitutional institutions such as the Election Commission. He noted that the reported objections by the two Commissioners had generated serious questions and doubts among the public, and argued that people need clarity rather than a trading of allegations.

He asked what objections were recorded, what action followed, and how transparently the system operated when names were added, deleted or restored on electoral rolls. Public trust in the electoral process, he said, and every citizen's right to vote without fear, must be strengthened.

Reddy said transparency in a democracy must not only exist but must also be seen to exist. He called for revisiting the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023, a law he acknowledged his party had backed when it was passed.

He urged the central government to come forward and set a norm that dispels the prevailing fear, suggesting an amendment so that the Election Commissioner is appointed by a three-member committee comprising the Leader of Opposition, the Chief Justice of India and the Prime Minister. Comparing the present arrangement to a student appointing the examiner, he said such a process is always open to allegations even when the examiner is thoroughly honest, and that a neutral alternative would help regain the esteem and confidence of the Election Commission.

Reddy further alleged that during the SIR process in Andhra Pradesh, the party in power misused its authority and that his party's appeals went unheard on many occasions. He made a similar claim about the local body election process, saying the Opposition's objections to the redrawing of divisions were brushed aside, and that such actions weaken public confidence in the electoral process. Transparency and accountability, he said, are the true measures of how any institution functions in a democracy, and safeguarding them is that institution's primary duty.

Responding to the media report, the Election Commission said in a statement on September 23 that all its orders carry full legal sanction and that queries raised by members while procedures are being drafted are standard practice. The Commission described itself as a multi-member constitutional body functioning under Article 324 of the Constitution, statutory rules and established conventions, and said written notes, observations, technical suggestions and internal checks and balances are routine practices meant to ensure transparency, legal compliance and operational rigour. All its actions, it added, have been in accordance with the law and its own instructions, and every official order, decision and administrative direction follows established statutory procedures.