Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the Lok Sabha leader of the Congress party, announced on Thursday that a panel led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appointed former IAS officer Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Sandhu as the new Election Commissioners.
The retirement of Anup Chandra Pandey in February and the sudden resignation of Arun Goel last week created two vacant positions in the Election Commissioner post.
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury revealed on Thursday that a panel chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appointed former IAS officer Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Sandhu as the new Election Commissioners.
Chowdhury shed light on the process, expressing concerns over the selection procedure. He stated, “They (government) have the majority in the committee that appoints the election commissioner. Earlier, they had given me 212 names, but 10 minutes before the appointment they again gave me just six names. I know that the CJI isn’t there; the government has made such a law that the CJI doesn’t interfere, and the Central government can choose a favorable name. I am not saying that it’s arbitrary, but the procedure that is being followed has some lacunae.”