Midnight decision to select new CEC disrespectful: Rahul Gandhi

PM Narenra Modi-led panel on Monday night appointed Gyanesh Kumar as the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC)

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said it is “disrespectful and discourteous” for the prime minister and the home minister to have made a midnight decision to select the new CEC when the process of selection is being challenged in the Supreme Court. The government late on Monday night appointed Gyanesh Kumar as the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), hours after the meeting of the prime minister-led selection committee in which the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha asked the government to defer the meeting in view of the Supreme Court hearing in the matter.

While Kumar is new CEC, IAS officer Vivek Joshi has been appointed as the election commissioner. Gandhi also presented a dissent note to the panel, of which Home Minister Amit Shah is also a member. In a post on X, Gandhi said, “During the meeting of the committee to select the next Election Commissioner, I presented a dissent note to the PM and HM, that stated: The most fundamental aspect of an independent Election Commission free from executive interference is the process of choosing the Election Commissioner and Chief Election Commissioner”.

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Pics/PTI

Gandhi said in a judgement on March 2, 2023, the Constitutional Bench of the SC ordered the appointment of the CEC and election commissioners should be undertaken by a committee comprising the PM, LoP and Chief Justice of India. “By violating the Supreme Court order and removing the Chief Justice of India from the committee, the Modi Government has exacerbated the concerns of hundreds of millions of voters over the integrity of our electoral process,” he said.

BJP dimisses criticism

The BJP on Tuesday dismissed Rahul Gandhi's criticism of the appointment of the chief election commissioner and an election commissioner as “politically motivated” and accused him of undermining an elected government's constitutional mandate through “malicious” judicial activism. Hitting back, BJP's IT department head Amit Malviya said Gandhi's dissent on the appointment of the chief election commissioner (CEC) is not just politically motivated but also lacks merit.

Supreme Court to hear pleas

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it would on February 19 take up on “priority basis” the pleas against the appointments of the chief election commissioner (CEC) and election commissioners (EC) under the 2023 law. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh was informed by advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for an NGO, that despite the Constitution bench verdict of 2023 directing selection and appointment of the CEC and ECs through a panel including the Chief Justice of India, the government excluded the CJI and made a “mockery of democracy”.

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