NEW DELHI, Mar 14
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the sole Opposition member in the Prime Minister-led three-member committee which appoints election commissioners, said he has given dissent notes on the appointment of the two ECs as he was not made aware of the names in advance.
The committee picked Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu as the Election Commissioners after a meeting Wednesday night, Chowdhury said.
The Congress leader, while speaking to reporters, said the “government had given him 212 names on Wednesday, but 10 minutes before the appointment, they gave him just six names.” “They (govt) have the majority (in the committee who appoints election commissioner). Earlier, they had given me 212 names, but 10 minutes before the appointment they again gave me just six names. I know that the CJI isn’t there, govt has made such a law that the CJI doesn’t interfere and the Central govt can choose a favourable name. I am not saying that it’s arbitrary, but the procedure that is being followed has some lacunae,” he said. He added that the government is in majority in the panel, and hence “they chose the candidates they wanted”.
The panel comprises of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a Union minister appointed on the recommendation of the PM, and Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha. Chowdhury had earlier written a letter to the Central government, seeking the “dossier” containing the “bio-profiles” of the shortlisted persons “well before” the meeting. In a letter to Rajiv Mani, Secretary, Legislative Department and Department of Legal Affairs, Union Ministry of Law and Justice, Chowdhury is learnt to have referred to the process followed by the government regarding the selection of the Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissi-oners and Chief Vigilance Commissioner and Vigilance Commissioners and asked the government to follow the same procedure.
The committee was tasked to appoint to election commissioners following the sudden resignation of Arun Goel on March 9 and Anup Chandra Pandey’s retirement on February 14.
