Sukhbir Sandhu and Gyanesh Kumar were on Thursday named two new Election Commissioners, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury announced. According to Adhir Ranjan the names were decided by a panel chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Chowdhury said six names came up before the panel for the selection of the two ECs and the names of Sandhu and Kumar were finalised by a majority of members of the high-powered panel.
He, however, said the Chief Justice of India should have been part of the selection panel and there was no clarity on how six names were shortlisted from over 200 candidates that are said to have come before the search committee headed by the Law Minister.
Shortlisted six names
The six names shortlisted were that of Utpal Kumar Singh, Pradeep Kumar Tripathi, Gyanesh Kumar, Indevar Pandey, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, Sudhir Kumar Gangadhar Rahate, all former bureaucrats.
Arun Goel resignations
Days before the expected announcement of the schedule for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, election Commissioner Arun Goel on February 9 resigned from his post. His tenure was till December 5, 2027, and he would have become Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) after incumbent Rajiv Kumar retired in February next year. According to a law ministry notification, Goel's resignation has been accepted by President Droupadi Murmu with effect from Saturday.
Goel was a 1985-batch IAS officer of the Punjab cadre. He joined the Election Commission in November 2022.
