Over the last years, the Election Commission of India has faced multiple accusations regarding its independence and impartiality in electoral governance and the process of appointment of its members. The existing system of appointment of the Election Commissioners is based on the Executive considering a panel of candidates and selecting one considered acceptable from its point of view, for approval by the President of India. The Election Commission of India has a pivotal role to play in maintaining India as a true democracy. Recently, the Apex Court had directed the central government to consider introducing a more transparent system of appointment of the Election Commissioners to maintain the neutrality and independence of the office of the Election Commission to hold free and fair elections. The election commission should be outside the control of the executive government. Deficiencies in the present system of appointment of Election Commissioners needs to be removed and adequate safeguards must be put into place to ensure that ethical and capable people head the concerned positions. The spirit of the Apex court verdict has to be maintained to keep the Election Commission as an independent mechanism as it deals with the democratic process of the country.
