Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna on Tuesday recused himself from hearing a group of petitions challenging the law governing the appointment and service conditions of the chief election commissioner and other election commissioners, Bar and Bench reported.

Khanna directed that the case should be heard by a bench that he is not a part of. The matter will be heard next in January.

In December last year, the parliament passed the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Elections Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act. Petitions against the law were filed by Congress leader Jaya Thakur and non-government organisation Association for Democratic Reforms, among others.

The Supreme Court refused to stay the law in January.

The petitions questioned the exclusion of the chief justice of India from a selection committee tasked with appointing the chief of the Election Commission and its other members.

As per the law, the three-member selection committee is to be headed by the prime minister. The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and a Union cabinet minister nominated by the prime minister are its members.

The 2023 law did away with an arrangement put in place by a Supreme Court judgement in March last year that had formed a selection committee consisting of the prime minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the Chief Justice of India.

The new law invited criticism as it brought the selection of election commissioners back under the Centre’s control.

In March, the committee appointed bureaucrats Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Gyanesh Kumar as the new Election Commissioners.