Proposed poll commissioners' selection Bill aimed at turning ECI into BJP agency: TMC

The TMC on Friday alleged that the proposed Bill that seeks to regulate the selection of the chief election commissioner and other election commissioners is a desperate attempt to turn the Election Commission of India (ECI) into a private agency of the BJP.

Future chief election commissioners and election commissioners will be selected by a three-member panel headed by the prime minister and comprising the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and a cabinet minister, according to the Bill listed for introduction in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

A Supreme Court judgment in March said the panel should comprise the prime minister, the leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India.

TMC Rajya Sabha party leader Derek O'Brien said the BJP is trying to control the ECI as several surveys have indicated that BJP's tally will drop below 200 in the 2024 polls.

'With the ECI Bill, BJP wants to turn the ECI into a private agency of a political party. They have started doing this now, because data from at least two consumer research agencies suggest that in 2024, BJP's seats will dip below 200,' O'Brien said in a post on X, earlier Twitter.

Echoing him, party MP Sushmita Dev said the sly manoeuvre is a desperate attempt by the BJP to manipulate the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in its favour.

'This Bill is aimed to weaken democracy and ECI. The BJP wants to take control of the office of the ECI. It is a ploy by the BJP to manipulate the Lok Sabha polls in its favour. We would oppose this undemocratic Bill,' she said.