The notification of the appointment of two Election Commissioners – Gyanesh Kumar, and Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu – was issued by the Central government on Thursday evening.
“In exercise of powers conferred by Section 4 of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023 (Act No. 49 of 2023), the President is pleased to appoint Gyanesh Kumar, IAS (retd), and Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, IAS (retd) as Election Commissioners in the Election Commission of India, with effect from the date they assume charge of their office,” it said.
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led three-member committee on Thursday picked the former bureaucrats for the poll panel.
The decision comes days after the resignation of Election Commissioner Arun Goel ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. The other Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey retired last month.
The selection panel, which zeroed in on Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Gyanesh Kumar, includes the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition or the largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha, and a designated Union Cabinet minister.
Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is on the three-member panel in his capacity as the leader of the largest opposition party. Besides PM Modi and him, Union Home Minister Amit Shah attended the meeting.
The Congress leader, however, hit out at the Centre over the law that replaced the Chief Justice of India with a Union Minister on the selection committee.
He also 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 six shortlisted names before the meeting. The majority is with them, so they chose the candidates they wanted,” he said.