00:05some more news coming in the supreme court has issued a notice to the government and also the
00:10election commission over a plea that challenges the blanket immunity which has been given to the
00:17chief election commissioner and also the election commissioners the petition challenges the
00:22constitutional validity of section 16 of the chief election commissioner and other election
00:26commissioners act 2023 the petitioner activist and lawyer arun kumar agarwal has argued that the
00:32provision grants immunity without any exception even for acts not done in good faith the plea also
00:39argues that such blanket protection takes away civil and criminal remedies available to citizens
00:44against the chief election commissioner and the other election commissioners it further contends
00:48that protecting the independence of the election commission cannot mean granting its members
00:53immunity from legal accountability now the petitioner has sought a declaration that section 16 of the
01:002023 act is unconstitutional my colleague anisha matur is now joining us with more details on this story
01:07anisha tell us more about this notice that has been issued by the supreme court to the center
01:11and also the election commission and more about this plea which challenges the blanket immunity of
01:16the chief election commissioners this is now almost the seventh petition in the cd which has been filed on the
01:24same matter earlier this last month we saw notices being issued on the same issues that have been filed by
01:32various NGOs and today lawyer activist Mr. Agarwal as well as political leader Manoj Jha have filed these petitions on
01:43the same issue remember the supreme court had earlier also asked about the
01:46question of this very question what happens when this kind of immunity is given because section 16 of the new
01:53act has effectively given blanket immunity which says that any act done while in office will not be prostitutable there
02:03can be no civil remedy there can be no criminal remedy against an election commissioner or the chief election commissioner
02:09even after they dimit office and earlier also the argument has been made that this kind of blanket protection is
02:15not in fact
02:16given given given even to supreme court judges not even prime minister or the president of india has this kind
02:22of blanket immunity after they dimit office so why why is it that such blanket immunity has been given to
02:29the election commissioner earlier petitions and now these petitions have also raised this very argument that at a time when
02:36there are questions being asked about the working of the election commission there has to be
03:06right Anisha so now that the notice has been issued by the Supreme Court what can be expected next
03:11next in this case because this is the very point that the opposition has also time and again raised that
03:16why this blanket immunity to the chief election commissioner
03:20Well as I was saying just now blanket immunity and the protection given to the election commissioner have already been
03:30challenged and as I said we are waiting for the election commission as well as the center to respond to
03:38these petitions because this is not the first time these petitions have been filed these have
03:46were also filed in October including the first petition that was filed by the association for democratic reforms which had
03:55raised these exact questions as the opposition is saying that if an act is done by an election commissioner or
04:02the chief election commissioner which is in violation of their powers if they do an act which violates certain laws
04:11then even then even in that situation
04:14there will be blanket immunity because that is what the purport of section 16 seems to be the lifelong immunity
04:22that is granted
04:23and remember the biggest question mark on this particular provision is that the immunity is not
04:32the immunity is continuing even after this demit office which is something and as I said this is an argument
04:39that was made in October when the earlier petitions were also heard that unprecedented unbridled power has been given and
04:48what exactly is the ramifications of that now we are still waiting for the center to respond to these petitions
04:53of the
04:53petitions as the hearing is expected in the third week of November all right Anisha thank you for those details
04:59so the hearing on this matter is expected in the third week of November this is a plea challenging the
05:05blanket immunity to the chief election commissioner and also the other two election commissioners
