Rahul Gandhi objects to the appointment of CEC, why is the opposition raising questions, hearing will be held in the Supreme Court tomorrow

New Delhi. The next Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of the country will be Gyanesh Kumar. His name was approved in the selection committee meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, after which the Law Ministry announced his name after getting approval from the President. But Congress has raised questions about the process of making Gyanesh Kumar the next Chief Election Commissioner. In such a situation, it is important to know why the Congress is raising questions on the appointment of the Election Commissioner, what objection does Congress have to the process? ….

First know what happened in the meeting …

Rajiv Kumar is retiring from the post of Chief Election Commissioner on February 18. In such a situation, a three-member panel meeting was held on Monday regarding the selection of the new CEC. Apart from PM Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi were also present in it. Gyanesh Kumar’s name was approved in this meeting. But Rahul Gandhi asked the government to postpone the appointment of the CEC until the Supreme Court decides on the petitions challenging the new appointment process. Now let us know what is the matter pending in the Supreme Court.

Modi government had changed the law

Let us tell you that the central government had excluded the Chief Justice of India from the panel for appointing the Chief Election Commissioner by passing a law from the Parliament last year. Earlier, the Chief Election Commissioner was appointed on the basis of seniority and the selection committee also included the Chief Justice. But the central government had changed this law. Now the appointment of CEC and EC is done under the provisions of the (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act 2023.

The opposition is on the offensive for keeping the Chief Justice out of the CEC appointment process. Many opposition parties including Congress allege that this move of the central government will end transparency. A case has been filed in the Supreme Court regarding the removal of the Chief Justice and this new law of the Center.

Now know why Rahul expressed his objection
In the meeting of the selection committee chaired by PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi expressed his disagreement with the appointment of the new CEC. He said that this appointment process is against the spirit of the order of the apex court. Rahul Gandhi also submitted a protest letter. Congress said that the Supreme Court is going to hear the petitions challenging the decision to keep the CJI out of the panel for the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner on February 19. Therefore, the meeting to select the new CEC could have been held after the decision of the apex court.

Congress called it a threat to the Constitution
Congress said in its statement – We had full hope that the selection panel headed by PM Modi would move forward by ignoring the demand/objection of the Leader of the Opposition. Congress Rajya Sabha MP Abhishek Singhvi said, ‘By removing or trying to keep the Chief Justice of India out… the government has made it clear that they want their control over the constitutional institutions and do not want to let credibility remain.’ KC Venugopal said that this is against the spirit of the Constitution.

Now know who is Gyanesh Kumar
Gyanesh Kumar, a 1988 batch Kerala cadre IAS officer, was born on 27 January 1964 in Agra, Uttar Pradesh. He did his early education from Queens College, Varanasi and Calvin Talukdar College, Lucknow. After this, he did B.Tech in Civil Engineering from IIT Kanpur, Post Graduation in Business Finance from ICFAI and Post Graduation in Environmental Economics from Harvard University. He was Assistant Collector of Ernakulam in Kerala, Deputy-Collector of Adoor, Managing Director of Kerala State Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation, Municipal Commissioner of Cochin Municipal Corporation. Along with this, he served in many other posts.

He retired as Cooperative Secretary of Government of India on 31 January 2024 and was appointed as Election Commissioner in the Election Commission of India on 14 March 2024.