New Delhi, Mar 12 (Reporter) Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan has filed a PIL in the Supreme Court on Tuesday challenging the constitutional validity of Section 7 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023. The PIL filed for an urgent hearing could not be taken up by the Court today due to a technical problem and it is likely to come up tomorrow. This petition, moved by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), sought relief against the provision, which lays down the process for the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners. Prashant Bhushan, appearing for ADR mentioned the plea before the bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Dipankar Datta, and Prashant Kumar Mishra, requesting the court to grant an urgent hearing. The petition filed by ADR contends that the 2023 Act overturns a previous constitutional bench decision in Anoop Baranwal (2023) in which the Apex Court had held that leaving the appointment of election commission members in the hands of the executive would be detrimental to the health of democracy and the conduct of free and fair elections. Accordingly, the court directed that appointments to the posts of the chief election commissioner and the election commissioners should be made by the president based on the advice tendered by a committee consisting of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and the Chief Justice of India. In the new 2023 Act, the Chief Justice of India is replaced with a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the Prime Minister. ADR contended that this change makes the selection process vulnerable to manipulation, as the selection committee is perceived to be dominated and controlled by members from the executive. Earlier on February 13, the Apex Court had refused to stay the operation of Section 7 of the Act, noting that a similar matter was pending before the court and scheduled for April 2024. The bench directed that the present case be listed alongside the pending matter in April. The Public Interest Litigation(PIL) filed by ADR under Article 32 of the Constitution, challenges Section 7 of the 2023 Act for allegedly violating Article 14 and the basic features of the Constitution. This section outlines the appointment process, stating that the chief election commissioner and other election commissioners shall be appointed by the president on the recommendation of a selection committee. The committee consists of the Prime Minister as chairperson, the Leader of Opposition in the House of the People as a member, and a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the Prime Minister as another member...////...