Justice Nagarathna says institutions like EC must function independently: ‘If those who conduct elections are…’

Supreme Court Justice BV Nagarathna said on Saturday that institutions such as the Election Commission of India (ECI) must function independently if constitutional governance is to remain intact, according to Bar and Bench.

She made the remarks while delivering the first Dr Rajendra Prasad Memorial Lecture at Chanakya National Law University in Patna on Saturday.

"It is of utmost importance that these institutions function independently and not to be influenced by political processes," Justice BV Nagarathna said while referring to the ECI, Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and the Finance Commission.

She was quoted as saying that these institutions share a common design logic that they are insulated, specialised, and tasked with overseeing domains where the ordinary political process may be insufficient to ensure neutrality.

According to the report, Justice BV Nagarathna commented on the role of ECI in India's democracy, saying that the elections are not merely periodic events but a mechanism through which political authority is constituted.

"Our constitutional democracy has amply demonstrated smooth changes in government due to elections being held on a timely basis. Control over that process is, in effect, control over the conditions of political competition itself," she said.

She reportedly added, "In TN Seshan v. Union of India, the Supreme Court recognised the Election Commission as a constitutional authority of high significance, entrusted with ensuring the integrity of elections."

"The concern, once again, was structural: if those who conduct elections are dependent on those who contest them, the neutrality of the process cannot be assured," she was quoted by Bar and Bench as saying.

While speaking about constitutionalism, Justice Nagarathna also said that the durability of rights depends on the integrity of the institutions that interpret and enforce them.

According to Bar and Bench, Justice Nagarathna added that a constitutional breakdown can occur even within "legality" through gradual hollowing-out of structure while rights exist formally untouched.

"The unmistakable lesson of history is that constitutional collapse occurs through the disabling of its structure and the violation of rights merely follows," Justice Nagarathna was quoted as saying.

"The dismantling of structure, in turn, occurs when institutions stop checking each other. In that moment, elections may continue, courts may function, laws may be enacted by Parliament; and yet, power is effectively not restrained because the structural discipline no longer exists," she reportedly added.

Justice Nagarathna concluded her address, saying that the Constitution “is not self-sustaining” and must be preserved through “practice, through institutional fidelity, and through restraint in the exercise of power."

"Power, no matter however legitimate in its source, must always remain answerable," she emphasised.