Delhi Municipal Elections: Delhi High Court notice in plea against appointment of Chief Secretary as EC

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Delhi government in a petition challenging the appointment of Delhi Chief Secretary Vijay Dev as Election Commissioner for the capital's municipal corporations (Dr Nand Kishore Garg v. GNCTD and Ors)..A Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh also issued notice to the three municipal corporations of the national capital - North Delhi Municipal Corporation, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation and the East Delhi Municipal Corporation. All the respondents have been given time till March 31 to file their responses..The petition was filed by Dr Nand Kishore Garg through Advocate Shashank Deo Sudhi. It argued that the appointment has been made in violation of Article 243K of the Constitution which provides for the appointment of an independent Election Commissioner. The petition said that the move has been made with vested interests to affect the forthcoming municipal elections in Delhi..The Delhi government through its Additional Secretary had issued a notification on November 25 appointing incumbent Chief Secretary Vijay Dev as Election Commissioner for the municipal corporations elections, for a tenure of six years. The appointment will come into effect from April 24, 2022. However, he will remain in government service till March 2023.The petitioner contended that the appointment is politically motivated as the Chief Secretary has been privy to all the administrative and policy decisions of the Delhi government. By holding the position of Election Commissioner, there is a possibility of manipulation of the outcome of the election process.“This appointment has gravely undermined the fairness and objectivity of the institutional integrity of the electioneering in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, as the incumbent chief secretary will now certainly be subservient to the command of the Respondent No.1 (Delhi Government) as the respondent has ensured the continuance of government job of the incumbent chief secretary for another five years,” the petition stated..It was submitted that elections are the lifeblood of any democracy and therefore, they must not be allowed to be compromised.“It is further submitted that the issue of an appointment of election official is no longer unsettled, this issue has been examined by the apex court time and again and held that eligible candidate for the appointment of chief election commissioner or election commissioner must have impeccable history and unquestionable integrity and the Hon’ble court was also of the view that the additional charge of election to the bureaucrat is mockery of the democracy as the very possibility of affecting the process of election is writ large,” the petition said.Apart from praying for the quashing of the Delhi Chief Secretary’s appointment as Election Commissioner, the petition sought the formulation of broad guidelines for appointment to the post, to ensure “impartiality and neutrality of the candidate who would be independent person of high integrity being not entrusted with any kind of government assignment.”.PIL in Delhi High Court challenges appointment of Chief Secretary as MCD Election Commissioner