Even as the selection panel comprising Prime Minister Narender Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi met in Delhi to pick the next chief election commissioner, the Congress remarked that the meeting should have been postponed as the apex court is due to hear the matter on February 19.
The panel met a day before the incumbent chief election commissioner, Rajiv Kumar, retires on February 18. Despite the Opposition’s demands for postponement of the process, the government is likely to press ahead with the new selection.
After Kumar's retirement, the election commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar will become the senior-most election commissioner (EC). If selected as the CEC, he will be at the top post till January 26, 2029, effectively till the next Lok Sabha polls.
#WATCH | Lok Sabha LoP and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi leaves from South Block after attending the meeting to select the next Chief Election Commissioner. pic.twitter.com/I5eFb9nDTh
— ANI (@ANI) February 17, 2025
The Congress’s opposition to the selection process comes as the government had changed the rules to keep the Chief Justice of India out of the process under the Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023.
After the meeting, senior Congress leader and spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, “The Congress party believes that since the Supreme Court had said that the matter would be heard on February 19 and a decision would be given on what the constitution of the committee should be like, today's meeting should have been postponed."
The Congress alleged as the government went ahead with the meeting even before the Supreme Court's directive, it was clear that it wanted to control the EC.
Kumar retires as the 25th chief election commissioner. He was made the election commissioner in 2020 and elevated to the top post in May 2022. The 2024 Lok Sabha polls were held under his supervision.
The Opposition parties had raised the issue of faulty EVMs and voter lists, but Kumar had vouched for the sanctity of the election process.
The Congres along with its two allies—Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP)—had alleged manipulation of electoral rolls in the Maharastra assembly elections held last year, saying that over 39 lakh voters were added ahead of the polls, which was unusual.
The selection process of the election commissioners and CEC is now the new battleground between the government and the opposition parties. The Opposition parties have been challenging the neutrality of the constitutional body.
