The top court agreed to examine the plea and sought responses from the Centre and the Election Commission of India.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to examine a plea challenging the validity of a provision in a 2023 law that grants immunity to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners regarding certain acts undertaken while discharging their official duties.

The matter came up before a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana. The bench agreed to examine the plea and sought responses from the Centre and the Election Commission of India (ECI). The plea was filed by the NGO Association for Democratic Reforms.

The plea seeks a declaration that Section 16 of the CEC Act is unconstitutional, void and inoperative because it violates Articles 14 and 21 and the basic structure of the Constitution. The plea also seeks revival of proceedings against the present and past CEC and Election Commissioners, which came to an end as Section 16 of the CEC Act came into effect.

The petition submitted that Section 16 provides blanket immunity to the current and previous CEC/ECs for life, which has no rational nexus with the objective of ensuring independence of CEC/ECs.

The plea stressed that the provision places the CEC & ECs beyond the reach of any court of law. A similar petition filed by NGO-Lok Prahari, challenging blanket immunity for CEC/ECs, is already pending in the apex court. The bench directed that the ADR’s plea be tagged to the Lok Prahari case.