New Delhi: With the government on Monday appointed Gyanesh Kumar as the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) the Congress hit back even as Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi had given a dissent note saying the meeting should have been postponed and had also opposed the composition of the committee as lopsided.
The announcement came shortly after a meeting of the Election Committee comprising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, where the Congress leader had given a note of dissent.
According to sources, Rahul Gandhi recorded his dissent during the CEC selection committee meet last evening in Delhi.
As per highly placed sources, Rahul Gandhi mentioned that meeting should have been postponed.
Sources added that, Rahul Gandhi opposed the composition of committee as lopsided. He questioned the composition of committee.
The matter regarding constitution of the committee ( related to 2023 law) is to be heard on February 19 by the Supreme Court.
A legislation was passed in 2023 – in an unprecedented manner by suspending opposition MPs- where in as per new law CEC and other commissioners will be decided by committee comprising of Prime Minister, LoP and a Union Cabinet minister.
This bill was passed months after a constitution bench of Supreme Court ruled that election commissioners be appointed by President based on advice from a committee comprising the Prime Minister, LoP and Chief Justice of India.
The Congress objected to the selection as the law on appointment of the CEC has been challenged in the Supreme Court, which will hear the matter on Saturday. The party has alleged that the government wants control of Election Commission and is not concerned about its credibility.
Even Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal hit back at the government and said this hasty midnight move goes against the spirit of the Constitution and what has been reiterated by the Supreme Court.
Venugopal in a post on X, he wrote, “In a hasty midnight move, the Government has notified the appointment of the new Central Election Commissioner. This goes against the spirit of our Constitution, and what has been reiterated by the Supreme Court in many cases – for the electoral process to have sanctity, the CEC must be an impartial stakeholder.”
Venugopal said that the amended law removed the CJI from the CEC selection panel, and the government ought to have waited until the Supreme Court’s hearing on February 19 before selecting the CEC.
“Their decision to hastily hold the meeting today and appoint the new EC shows they are keen to circumvent the Supreme Court’s scrutiny and get the appointment done before a clear order kicks in,” he sais.
Slamming the government, Venugopal said such egregious behaviour only confirms the doubts that many have expressed about how the ruling regime is destroying the electoral process and bending the rules for its benefit.
“Be it fake voter lists, schedules favouring the BJP, or concerns around EVM hacking—the government and the CECs it appoints are subject to deep suspicion because of such incidents.
“As the LOP rightly pointed out, this decision should have been kept aside until the Supreme Court decides the issue in line with the Constitution,” Venugopal added.
The government appointed Kumar, a 1988-batch IAS officer from Kerala cadre, was part of the Union Home Ministry and helped draft the bill that scrapped Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019. He is known to be close to Shah.