New Delhi: A high-powered selection committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday appointed two retired IAS officers – Gyanesh Kumar (Kerala cadre) and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu (Uttarakhand cadre) – as election commissioners, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said.
Chowdhury, who is the sole opposition member in the panel, criticised the selection process of the new appointments, saying it was “fait accompli” that the government’s pre-decided candidates would be chosen for the posts.
Addressing reporters at his home soon after the meeting ended on Thursday, Chowdhury expressed his dissent on the selection process, claiming that he was given a list of six shortlisted names only 10 minutes before the panel meeting began.
He said as the opposition member, he was given a list of 212 names to examine only last night. “In a single night, [you tell me] whether it is humanly possible for me to examine the 212 names to find out the most competent person amongst them. It was fait accompli,” he said.
Chowdhury said that there was no clarity on how six names were shortlisted, adding that the Chief Justice of India should have been part of the selection panel.
“If the CJI had been there, it would have been a different matter,” he said, further alleging that the law was amended to ensure that the CJI was removed from the selection process.
According to the new act, the selection process consists of two committees – a three-member search committee led by the Union law minister and constituting two government secretaries; and a three-member selection committee headed by the PM and consisting of a Union minister recommended by the PM and the leader of opposition.
Thus, of the six individuals involved in the process, three are members of the government and two are employed by the government, Chowdhury said and alleged that the system was already rigged in favour of the government as the selection committee consisted of the prime minister and the home minister on one side and a single leader of the opposition on the other.
The search committee, as per the act, is required to recommend five names to the selection committee but the latter is empowered to select commissioners from outside this list as well.
However, Chowdhury said that Union law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, who headed the search committee, came out with these six names. He said that was immaterial as he had no input in shortlisting these names.
Singh and Kumar fill the two vacancies came about following the resignation of Arun Goel on March 8 and Anup Chandra Pandey’s retirement on February 14.
