The Supreme Court on Thursday said free and fair elections can’t be ensured unless the Election Commission not just remained independent but also appeared to be independent even as the Centre defended the law on appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners (ECs).
While hearing PILs challenging the 2023 law on appointment of the CEC and ECs that replaced the CJI with a Union Cabinet minister in the PM-led three-member selection panel, a Bench of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice SC Sharma asserted that independence of the Election Commission was a facet of the "basic structure" of the Constitution, as free and fair elections depended on it.
