A high-level committee led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi selected retired IAS officers Gyanesh Kumar (IAS:1988:KL) and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu (IAS:1988:UK) as the Election Commissioners on Thursday.
However, senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the Opposition member on the panel, expressed dissent, questioning the process. He stated that the shortlisted names of officers were not provided to him in advance. Chowdhury asserted that he had requested a shortlist before the meeting, which would have given him details of all the candidates under consideration. According to sources, the Government had sent Chowdhury five lists containing 236 names, whereas Chowdhury claimed to have received only 212 names.
This development comes just days before the expected announcement of the schedule for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Earlier, Election Commissioner Arun Goel (IAS:1985:PB) resigned from his post on February 9. His tenure was until December 5, 2027, and he would have succeeded incumbent Rajiv Kumar as Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) after Kumar’s retirement in February of the following year.
