Former bureaucrats Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Gyanesh Kumar have been appointed as the new election commissioners by a panel led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, committee member and Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said on Thursday.
After the meeting came to an end, Chowdhury addressed reporters at his residence and informed them that six names came up before the panel for the selection of the two Election Commissioners. Sandhu and Kumar were finalised by a majority of the high-powered panel.
The two positions for the ECs fell vacant after the retirement of Anup Chandra Pandey on February 14 and the sudden resignation of Arun Goel.
Who is Sukhbir Singh Sandhu?
A retired IAS officer of the 1998 batch, Sandhu earlier served as the Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand. He was appointed to the post when Pushkar Singh Dhami became the Chief Minister of the state in 2021. Before that, he had served as the chairman of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). He has also served as the Additional Secretary in the Department of Higher Education under the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).
Sandhu has a Master's Degree in History from Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. He has also done an MBBS from Government Medical College in Amritsar.
Earlier, he was conferred with the President Medal in recognition of his services as Commissioner of Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana, Punjab.
Who is Gyanesh Kumar?
Gyanesh Kumar, a 1988-batch Kerala-cadre IAS officer, retired from the services after his superannuation in January earlier this year.
He has served as the secretary in the Ministry of Cooperation, led by Union Minister Amit Shah. Previously, he was also appointed as the Secretary of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.
He has also served in the Ministry of Home Affairs. During his tenure, Kumar oversaw the abrogation of Article 370.
The Election Commission is expected to announce the schedule for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections soon.
What Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said
Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, a member of the committee, asserted that the Chief Justice of India should have been a part of the selection panel. He claimed there was no clarity on how six names were shortlisted from over 200 candidates that reportedly came before the search committee headed by the Law Minister.
Among the six names shortlisted were Utpal Kumar Singh, Pradeep Kumar Tripathi, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, Sudhir Kumar Gangadhar Rahate, Gyanesh Kumar and Indevar Pandey -- all of them are former bureaucrats.
After Arun Goel's resignation, only Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar was left in the three-member poll panel, ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Earlier on February 14, Anup Chandra Pandey retired as Election Commissioner.
The new law regarding the appointment of Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners came into force recently. Before the new law, the Chief Justice was involved in the selection process.
(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)
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