NEW DELHI: The

has sought constitutional amendment for greater autonomy and rule-making powers as also provision to treat the election commissioners at par with the chief election commissioner (CEC).

In an affidavit filed in the

,

said it had sent recommendations to successive governments beginning 1998 to amend Article 324 of the Constitution to extend similar protection to the election commissioners as is enjoyed by the CEC.

Article 324 says that CEC shall not be removed from office except in like manner and on the like grounds as a judge of the Supreme Court. However both the election commissioners have no such protection and the Article only provides that they shall not be removed from office except on the recommendation of the CEC.

“The Election

of India wrote to the Prime Ministers in 2010, 2012 and 2016, inviting attention to the aforesaid long pending recommendation of the matter of their removal from office as is available to the CEC under clause (5) of Article 324 of the Constitution. The commission further requested the Prime Ministers to bestow his personal attention to the matter to ensure and effectuate an early amendment of the Constitution in this regard,” the affidavit said.

“The present constitutional guarantee is inadequate and requires an amendment to provide the same protection and safeguard in the matter of removability of election commissioners as is available to the CEC,” it said.

The Commission also said it should be empowered to frame rules under the Representation of the People Act which at present was done by the Centre. “Since the central government is not bound to accept the views and recommendations of the Commission, there are instances when rules opposed to the specific recommendations on the Commission have been framed. On several such occasions, rules framed or amended have not been in line with the recommendation of the Election Commission,” it said.

The Commission also batted for an independent secretariat for its functioning and told the court that the government was not taking decision on this aspect despite its suggestion. “The Commission proposes that it should have an independent secretariat along the lines of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and registries of the Supreme Court and high courts. An independent secretariat will enable the Commission to choose and appoint officials considered suitable by the Commission without any interference from the executive,” it said.