Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Tuesday that the Prime Minister and Home Minister decide to select the new Chief Election Commissioner at midnight is “derogatory” and “rude”, while the process of selection is being challenged in the Supreme Court.
In fact, the government appointed Gyanesh Kumar as the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) late on Monday night.
The appointment was made a few hours after the meeting of the selection committee headed by the Prime Minister. In the meeting, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha requested the government to postpone the meeting in view of the hearing in the Supreme Court in the case.
Gandhi also presented an disagreement note before the committee, which is also a member of Home Minister Amit Shah.
He said that by violating the order of the Supreme Court and “removing the Chief Justice from the Selection Committee, the government has increased the concerns of crores of voters on the integrity of our election process”.
DURING The Meeting of the Committee to Select the next election commissioner, I presented a disasent note to the PM and hm, that stated: the most fundamental aspect of an index The process of choosing the election… pic.twitter.com/jel9wsfq3x
– Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 18, 2025
The Congress leader said in his disagreement note, “By violating the order of the Supreme Court and removing the Chief Justice of India from the committee, the Modi government has raised the concerns of crores of voters over the integrity of our election process.”
He further said in his note that it is his duty to maintain Babasaheb Ambedkar’s ideals and to make the government accountable.
The note states, “It is my duty as the Leader of the Opposition to maintain the ideals of Babasaheb Ambedkar and our country’s founding leaders and hold the government accountable to the government. It is derogatory and rude to decide at midnight, while the committee’s structure and process is being challenged in the Supreme Court and it is to be heard in less than forty -eight hours. “
Former Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar is going to retire today. In terms of seniority, Dnyanesh Kumar will be the most senior election commissioner after Rajiv Kumar’s retirement and his term will be till 26 January 2029.
The central government formed a search committee before the meeting. CEC and EC are appointed by the President of India on the basis of recommendations of a selection committee. The Congress party has strongly objected to this process and earlier requested the government to postpone the selection meeting, as the case is going on in the Supreme Court regarding the appointment of the previous Chief Election Commissioner.
The party yesterday stated that the new process “creates biased and non-fate for the selection of Election Commissioners”.
Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that the government “only wants control, not credibility” and the most important aspect for the Election Commission is “reliability”.
He said, “By trying to keep the Chief Justice out of the appointment (CEC) process as an independent unit, the government has made it clear that they only want control, not credibility. The most important thing for the Election Commission Is reliability. “
