New Delhi: Sukhbir, Gyanesh appointed new election commissioners

New Delhi : Former bureaucrats Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Gyanesh Kumar have been named as the new election commissioners by a panel chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, committee member and Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said on Thursday. Chowdhury, however, gave his dissent note on the selection, raising questions over the procedure.

He said he had sought the names of the shortlisted candidates for the posts in the Election Commission but was provided 212 names the night before the committee met. Addressing reporters at his residence soon after the meeting ended, Chowdhury said six names came up before the panel for the selection of the two election commissioners and the names of Sandhu and Kumar were finalised by a majority of members of the high-powered panel. The six names shortlisted were that of Utpal Kumar Singh, Pradeep Kumar Tripathi, Gyanesh Kumar, Indevar Pandey, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, Sudhir Kumar Gangadhar Rahate, all former bureaucrats.

The selection panel is chaired by the prime minister. It has as members one Union minister -- Home Minister Amit Shah -- as nominated by the government and the leader of the largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha. "Of the six names, the names of Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu were finalised for appointment as election commissioners," Chowdhury said. He said that "I did not have information about the background, experience and integrity of these people and I did not like the procedural lacunae" but the appointments were made. While Kumar during his tenure in the home ministry oversaw the abrogation of the Constitution's Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, Sandhu is a former chief secretary of Uttarakhand. Kumar and Sandhu are 1988-batch officers of the Indian Administrative Service and belonged to the Kerala and Uttarakhand cadres, respectively. The Congress leader said, "I have given my dissent note as I had 212 names with me and the proposal from the government was of only six names. I did not agree." He claimed that he got the names of the candidates who will occupy the top positions in the Election Commission just 10 minutes before their appointment. It was merely for the sake of formality, Chowdhury said.