{"id":2441,"date":"2026-10-05T08:31:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T08:31:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/2026\/10\/05\/justice-nariman-raises-concerns-election-commission\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T08:31:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T08:31:19","slug":"justice-nariman-raises-concerns-election-commission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/2026\/10\/05\/justice-nariman-raises-concerns-election-commission\/","title":{"rendered":"Justice Nariman warns of election commission failures, urges Supreme Court to act"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- Quick Adsense WordPress Plugin: http:\/\/quickadsense.com\/ -->\n<div class=\"9fece8afa224fd09e54b043d0febfb58\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- NR ATF -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8898941184964366\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"4839033563\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>Former Supreme Court justice Rohinton Fali Nariman warned that India cannot tolerate an election commission that &#8220;functions or malfunctions&#8221; in a manner that disenfranchises millions of citizens. Speaking at a conference titled \u201cThe Constitution and the Common Man\u201d at Rajkumar College in Rajkot, Nariman highlighted the large\u2011scale removal of voters in West Bengal, questioned recent changes to the appointment process of election commissioners, and urged the Supreme Court to resolve the constitutionality of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023.<\/p>\n<h2>West Bengal\u2019s Special Intensive Revision and massive voter loss<\/h2>\n<p>Nariman pointed to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, which he said resulted in the disenfranchisement of roughly 90 lakh (9\u202fmillion) voters. He noted that despite the magnitude of the issue, the Supreme Court has not stayed the SIR process. Of the disenfranchised voters, about 22 lakh (2.2\u202fmillion) filed appeals. In the subset of roughly 1\u202flakh (100,000) appeals that were decided, 93\u202fpercent were ruled in favour of the voters, underscoring, he argued, that the original deletions were \u201ccompletely illegal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to Nariman, the fallout from the West Bengal roll\u2011cleaning contributed to a shift in power, removing the state government of the day and installing a centre\u2011aligned administration. He described the episode as \u201cdisturbing\u201d and said it exemplifies how the right to vote \u2013 the core of India\u2019s democracy \u2013 is under \u201cgreat peril.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Appointment process under scrutiny<\/h2>\n<p>In 2023, the Supreme Court, in the case Anoop\u202fBaranwal\u202fv.\u202fUnion of India, issued a provisional order that the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) be appointed by a committee comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha (or the leader of the largest opposition party), and the Chief Justice of India. Nariman explained that the government later passed the CEC Act, which removed the Chief Justice from the committee and substituted a Union Cabinet minister nominated by the Prime Minister.<\/p>\n<p>He stressed that while the removal of a CEC follows the same procedure as that for a Supreme Court or High Court judge \u2013 a safeguard meant to protect independence \u2013 the appointment mechanism remains heavily influenced by the incumbent government. \u201cIf appointment of Election Commissioners is in the hands of the Government of the day, the removal process does not add very much to their independence and impartiality,\u201d Nariman said.<\/p>\n<p>Nariman also criticized a recent split decision by a two\u2011judge Supreme Court bench that addressed challenges to the appointment process. The divided verdict, he argued, allowed the government to continue appointing commissioners under a scheme with \u201csubstantial executive influence.\u201d He indicated that the matter now awaits a larger, possibly five\u2011judge, constitutional bench to determine whether the 2023 Act is consistent with the Constitution.<\/p>\n<p>Further complicating the picture, Nariman cited an Indian\u202fExpress report that the two other Election Commissioners had objected to several decisions taken by the CEC. Under Section\u202f18 of the 2023 Act, a two\u2011thirds majority is required for a decision to stand. Nariman questioned why the dissenting commissioners did not invoke this provision, suggesting that because they, too, were appointed by the current government, they were reluctant to oppose the CEC openly.<\/p>\n<p>He described a \u201cpatch\u2011up\u201d among the three commissioners that resulted in a joint statement acknowledging some of the objections and promising to revert to an older form (Form\u202f6). Nariman warned that such internal compromises, he said, \u201ccome at the nation\u2019s great detriment\u201d and further jeopardise the fundamental right to vote.<\/p>\n<p>Concluding his remarks, Nariman expressed confidence that the apex court will intervene. He urged the Supreme Court to adopt a composition for the appointment committee that includes the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and the Chief Justice or his nominee, thereby ensuring that the most qualified individuals are selected to safeguard the integrity of the electoral process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can\u2019t have an election commission which functions or malfunctions like this,\u201d Nariman asserted, emphasizing that the appointment process is the first \u201cred flag\u201d for the Constitution and the common man. He called on the Supreme Court to act promptly, stating, \u201cI hope the apex Court\u2026steps in immediately and rectifies these things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Supreme Court judge Rohinton Nariman criticised the Election Commission\u2019s handling of West Bengal voter rolls and called for an urgent Supreme Court ruling on the 2023 CEC appointment law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[299],"tags":[1840,2679,1753,335,2678],"class_list":["post-2441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-election-commission","tag-electoral-reform","tag-india-politics","tag-supreme-court","tag-voting-rights","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}