The high-level committee led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi elected Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu to fill two of the highest seats in the Election Commission. However, senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury raised questions about the process of electing the Election Commissioners. The Congress leader said that he was sent the names of 212 officers yesterday to shortlist in a day.
Given the limitation of time, he said, ‘I had asked for a shortlist so that I could examine the candidates. But I did not get that opportunity. I reached Delhi at midnight, and the meeting was at noon today. I was given 212 names; how can someone examine so many candidates in a day? Ten minutes before the meeting, I was given a shortlist of six names.’
“It was a fait accompli that the chosen two would be selected. However, I tried to intervene in an appropriate manner to bolster the institution. That’s why, before my arrival in Delhi, I sought a shortlist. They gave me a list of all the candidates, numbering 212. Now you can imagine if, in a single night, it is humanly possible for me to examine 212 names and find out the most competent person among them,” he said.
Mr. Chowdhury was appointed to assist Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar as the poll body prepares for the upcoming Lok Sabha election. The Prime Minister and his important ally, Amit Shah, were also on the panel.
The Congress leader slammed the center for replacing the CJI with the Union Minister. Claiming that the law brought last year has reduced the meeting to a mere formality, Mr Chowdury said, ‘The Chief Justice of India should have been on this committee,’ he said. ‘The government is in the majority on the panel. What they want happens.’
The process of appointing the Election Commissioner begins with a search committee led by the Law Minister, who prepares a shortlist. Later, the panel led by the Prime Minister, along with the Union Minister and a leader from the opposition party, selects the Election Commissioner.
The vacancy for the current election commission was open after the sudden resignation of Arun Goel and Anup Chandra Pandey from the position on February 14.
Who are the new election commissioners?
Both Mr. Sandhu and Mr. Kumar are retired IAS officers of the 1988 batch. Mr. Sandhu is from the Uttarakhand cadre of IAS, and Mr. Kumar is from the Kerala cadre.
Mr. Sandhu was the Chairman of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand, among other prestigious appointments. In the Ministry of Human Resource Development’s Department of Higher Education, he also held the position of Additional Secretary.
Mr. Kumar was Secretary in the Ministry of Cooperation under Amit Shah’s direction and had been Secretary in the Ministry before. He led the special desk on Ram Mandir in the Ayodhya dispute and supervised the repeal of Article 370 during his time in the Home Ministry.
Kumar was involved in the enactment of the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (MSCS) (Amendment) Act, 2023, while at the Ministry of Cooperation.
