 bill no  25 of  2018 the constitution (amendment) bill, 2018 by shri rajeev satav, mp a bill further to amend the constitution of indiabe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-ninth year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the constitution (amendment) act, 2018short title and commencement(2) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, appoint2 in article 324 of the constitution, for clause (2), the following clauses shall besubstituted, namely:—"(2) the election commission shall consist of the chief election commissioner and such number of other election commissioners, if any, as the president may, from time to time, fix10(2a) the appointment of the chief election commissioner and other electioncommissioners shall be made by the president on the recommendation of the selection committee(2b) there shall be a selection committee consisting of—(i) the prime minister—chairperson; (ii) the union law minister—member; (iii) the leader of the opposition in the house of the people—member; (iv) the leader of opposition in the council of states—member; and5(v) the chief justice of india or a judge of the supreme court nominated by him—member10explanation—for the purposes of this clause, "the leader of the opposition in the house of the people" or "the leader of the opposition in the council of states" shall, when no such leader has been so recognized, mean the leader of the single largest group in opposition in the house of the people or the council of states, as the case may be1520(2c) the selection committee shall for the purposes of selecting the chief election commissioner or election commissioners and for preparing a panel of persons to be considered for appointment as such, constitute a search committee consisting of at least five persons of standing and having special knowledge and expertise in the matters relating to public administration, vigilance, policy making, law and election management or in any other matter which, in the opinion of the selection committee, may be useful in making the selection of the chief election commissioner and the election commissioners:provided that not less than two members of the search committee shall be from amongst the persons belonging to the scheduled castes or the scheduled tribes or the other backward classes or minorities or women:25provided further that the selection committee may also consider any person other than the persons recommended by the search committee(2d) the selection committee shall regulate its own procedure in a transparent manner for selecting the chief election commissioner and the election commissioners(2e) the term of the search committee referred to in sub-section (2c), the fees and allowances payable to its members and the manner of selection of panel of names shall be such as may be prescribed by the selection committee"30 statement of objects and reasonsthe framework of the constitution has established the office of the chief election commissioner and the election commissioners who are entrusted with the responsibility to deal with matters that form the foundations of a democratic polity which is based on principles of transparency and accountability in july 2017, the supreme court had made an observation on the absence of any law on the appointment of the chief election commissioner (cec) and further observed that leaving it entirely to the political executive would not ensure independence of the poll panel the absence of any properly crafted procedure and independent mechanism for appointment to such crucial post under the constitution hampers its status and authority there is an immediate necessity to change the selection procedure for the appointment of such constitutional authorities it would add prestige to the post, if the people heading it are chosen through a procedure in which the president has the benefit of getting a recommendation from a committee that will reflect a bipartisan consensus the appointment of the above mentioned constitutional functionaries are governed by the provisions of the constitution as there is no separate law nor any prescribed procedure in the scheme of things currently in force, these appointments are made by the president on the advice of the council of ministers headed by the prime minister on a careful perusal of the debates in the constituent assembly, we come across the speech of pandit hriday nath kunzru and prof shibban lal saxena, who spoke eloquently on the need to appoint a person as the chief election commissioner or the election commissioner who commands confidence of a majority of both the houses of parliament in principle, one could say that the person appointed should be such as to be acceptable and should have the confidence of the parliament or across the political spectrumin the last sixty years of the glorious history of this country, our polity has undergone a metamorphosis and from the days of single party dominance earlier, we are passing through an era of coalition governments it would be in the fitness of things to incorporate a transparent procedure in respect of the appointment of such constitutional authorities, where the credibility and independence of the authority is of paramount importance in order to nurture and strengthen this confidence of the public, a change in the selection procedure for the appointment is necessary keeping in view the changed political scenario in the country with its multiparty focus a broad-based committee will greatly add to the perceived sense of impartiality, neutrality and credibility, thereby further strengthening the faith of the public in the institutional framework of such authoritieshence this billnew delhi;rajeev satavnovember 30, 2017 financial memorandumclause (2) of the bill provides for constitution of a search committee to shortlist prospective candidates for appointment as chief election commissioner or election commissioners it also provides for the fees and allowances payable to members of the search committee the bill, therefore, if enacted, will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a recurring expenditure of about rupees twenty-five lakh per annum will be involved from the consolidated fund of indiaa non-recurring expenditure of about rupees ten lakh is also likely to be involved annexure extract from the constitution of india       part xv elections324 (1)     superintendence, direction and control of elections to be vested in an election commission(2) the election commission shall consist of the chief election commissioner and such number of other election commissioners, if any, as the president may from time to time fix and the appointment of the chief election commissioner and other election commissioners shall, subject to the provisions of any law made in that behalf by parliament, be made by the president       lok  sabha———— a billfurther to amend the constitution of india————(shri rajeev satav, mp)mgipmrnd—3492ls(s3)—29-01-2018