Supreme Court Justice B V Nagarathna emphasized the importance of the Election Commission of India functioning independently and not being influenced by political processes.
Speaking at Patna's Chanakya National Law University, Nagarathna said that constitutional breakdown can occur through the gradual hollowing-out of the structure, even while rights may exist formally untouched.
She noted that the dismantling of structure occurs when institutions stop checking each other, and power is effectively not restrained because the structural discipline no longer exists.
Nagarathna highlighted the importance of institutions like the poll panel, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), and the Finance Commission functioning independently and not being influenced by political processes.
She said that conducting elections is not just a routine task, but a mechanism through which a political authority is formed, and control over that process is, in effect, control over the conditions of political competition itself.
