New Delhi: The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led high-level committee on Thursday picked retired IAS officers Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Gyanesh Kumar as the Election Commissioners.
However, senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the Opposition member in the panel, registered his dissent, questioning the process followed, saying the short-listed names of officers were not made available to him in advance. Chowdhury said he had asked for a short list before the meeting which could have given him details of all the shortlisted candidates. He said the Government had sent the names of 212 officers on Wednesday.
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Saturday18 Jan. 2025
The exhaustive list included the names of 92 officers who retired as Secretary and Secretary equivalent in Government of India, 93 names of officers serving as Secretary and Secretary equivalent officers in Government of India, 15 officers who retired as Chief Secretaries of State and union territories in last one year, 28 and 8 officers serving as Chief Secretaries in states and union territories.
Chowdhury was part of the panel chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to select two Election Commissioners to assist Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar as the poll body prepares for the upcoming Lok Sabha election. Besides the Prime Minister and Chowdhury, Union Home Minister Amit Shah attended the meeting.
The Congress leader hit out at the Centre over the law that replaced the Chief Justice of India by a Union Minister on the selection committee. “The Chief Justice of India should have been on this committee,” he said, adding that the law brought last year had reduced the meeting to a mere “formality”. “The government is in the majority on the panel. What they want happens.”
The Congress leader said he was given 212 names for scrutiny last night. “I reached Delhi last night and the meeting was today at noon. I was given 212 names, how can someone examine so many candidates in a day? Then, I was given 6 shortlisted names before the meeting. The majority is with them, so they chose the candidates they wanted,” he said.
The Congress leader said he had given a dissent note, questioning the procedure of selection.
