Gyanesh Kumar, Sukhbir Sandhu to be new Election Commissioners, says Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury

A 3-member committee, spearheaded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, convened to nominate candidates for the two vacant positions of Election Commissioners.

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led three-member committee on March 14 picked Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu as election commissioners, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury told media after the meeting of the panel.

The decision comes days after the shock resignation of election commissioner Arun Goel ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

The appointments are the first by the panel which was reconstituted in line with the new law governing the appointment of election commissioners.

#WATCH | Gyanesh Kumar from Kerala and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu from Punjab selected as election commissioners, says Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. pic.twitter.com/FBF1q44yuG

— ANI (@ANI) March 14, 2024

The selection panel now includes the Prime Minister, the leader of the Opposition, and a designated Union Cabinet minister, leaving out the Chief Justice of India.

The Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023, which was enacted in late December, supersedes a Supreme Court ruling on the appointment of ECs.

In March 2023, the Supreme Court said the President would appoint CECs and ECs on the advice of a committee consisting of the Prime Minister, the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and the Chief Justice of India.

The Election Commission, which is responsible for conducting fair and free polls, is expected to call general elections in the coming days. The general election is likely to be held in April-May.

Following the retirement of Anup Pandey in February and Goel's resignation, the three-member EC panel had only Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar.

Goel, whose tenure was supposed to go on till December 2027, resigned on March 9.

A retired bureaucrat, Goel was a 1985-batch IAS officer of the Punjab cadre. He had joined the Election Commission in November 2022.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court will also hear a plea on March 15 challenging the exclusion of the Chief Justice of India from a panel meant for selecting the CEC and the election commissioners.

The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) had challenged the validity of a provision of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023.

The plea alleged that the SC verdict, in relation to the selection panel, was overruled by the Centre without removing the basis of the judgment.