Tag: Election Commissioner

  • Plea filed in SC by Congress leader to restrain govt from appointing election commissioner

    Congress leader Dr Jaya Thakur filed an application in the Supreme Court on March 11 seeking to restrain the government from appointing a new Election Commissioner to fill the position vacated by Arun Goel a couple of days ago.

    News agency PTI had reported earlier that two election commissioners were likely to be appointed by March 15 to fill the vacancies created by the retirement of Anup Chandra Pandey and the surprise resignation of Goel.

    A committee under Law Minister Arjun Meghwal and comprising the Home Secretary and the Department of Personnel and Training Secretary was supposed to prepare two separate panels of five names each for the two posts. Thereafter, a selection panel headed by the PM and comprising a Union minister and Leader of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha were to name two persons for the two posts.Goel quit his post on March 9, leaving the Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar alone in the saddle at the poll watchdog. Goel, a former bureaucrat, was appointed as Election Commissioner in 2022.

    As per an ET report, Goel’s move was preceded by differences with the chief election commissioner. The issues seem to have escalated recently following Anup Pandey’s retirement on February 15, it said.

    It may be noted here that Pandey had retired just days before Goel’s sudden announcement, leaving a vacancy in the poll panel.According to an official statement from the Ministry of Law and Justice: “In pursuance of clause (1) of Section 11 of The Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023, the President is pleased to accept the resignation tendered by Shri Arun Goel, Election Commissioner with effect from the 09th March, 2024”.The Election Commission of India, for most of the past three decades, has been a three-member panel. There have only been two aberrations (1999 and 2009 Lok Sabha elections) when polls were overseen by just two members because of a members’ retirement in the middle of the poll cycle.

    The election commission originally used to have just a chief commissioner. Two additional commissioners were first appointed on October 16, 1989, and thereafter, on October 1, 1993. Since then, the commission has been functioning in a multi-member format, with decisions taken by a majority vote.

  • SC asks Centre to produce file related to appointment of Election Commissioner Arun Goel

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court asked the Centre on Wednesday to produce before it the file related to the appointment of Election Commissioner Arun Goel, who was appointed on November 19.

    A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice K M Joseph said it wants to know whether there was any “hanky panky” in Goel’s appointment as election commissioner as he was only recently given voluntary retirement from service.

    The bench rejected the objections of Attorney General (AG) R Venkataramani on the court willing to see the file related to Goel’s appointment while the hearing is on.

    Venkataramani told the bench, also comprising justices Ajay Rastogi, Aniruddha Bose, Hrishikesh Roy and C T Ravikumar, that it is dealing with the larger issue of appointment of ECs and the chief election commissioner (CEC) and it cannot look at an individual case flagged by advocate Prashant Bhushan.

    “I take serious objection to this and have my reservation to the court seeing the file amidst the hearing of a Constitution bench,” he said.

    The bench said it started hearing a batch of pleas seeking a collegium-like system for the appointment of ECs and the CEC last Thursday and Goel was appointed as an EC subsequently on November 19.

    Therefore, it wants to see what prompted the step.

    “We want to see what is the mechanism. We will not treat it as an adversarial and keep it for our record, but we want to know as you claim that everything is hunky dory. Since we were hearing the matter and appointment was made amidst, this may be interlinked. You have time till tomorrow. Produce the documents,” it told the AG.

    At the outset, Bhushan, who appeared on behalf of petitioner Anoop Baranwal and made his rejoinder submission, said after the court started hearing the mater, the government hurriedly appointed an election commissioner.

    “This election commissioner was, till Thursday, working as a secretary-level officer in the government. Suddenly, he was given VRS on Friday and appointed as an election commissioner,” Bhushan said.

    Justice Joseph said as far he recalls, it takes three months for a person to get voluntary retirement.

    On November 19, Goel, a 1985-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Punjab cadre, was appointed as an election commissioner.

    He was to retire on December 31 on attaining the age of 60 years.

    Once he assumes his new role, Goel would be in line to be the next CEC after incumbent Rajiv Kumar demits office in February 2025.

    He will join Kumar and Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey on the poll panel.

    There was a vacancy in the Election Commission (EC) following the retirement of previous CEC Sushil Chandra in May.

    Goel was the secretary in the Ministry of Heavy Industries till recently and his voluntary retirement came into effect on November 18.

    He has also served in the Union culture ministry.

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court asked the Centre on Wednesday to produce before it the file related to the appointment of Election Commissioner Arun Goel, who was appointed on November 19.

    A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice K M Joseph said it wants to know whether there was any “hanky panky” in Goel’s appointment as election commissioner as he was only recently given voluntary retirement from service.

    The bench rejected the objections of Attorney General (AG) R Venkataramani on the court willing to see the file related to Goel’s appointment while the hearing is on.

    Venkataramani told the bench, also comprising justices Ajay Rastogi, Aniruddha Bose, Hrishikesh Roy and C T Ravikumar, that it is dealing with the larger issue of appointment of ECs and the chief election commissioner (CEC) and it cannot look at an individual case flagged by advocate Prashant Bhushan.

    “I take serious objection to this and have my reservation to the court seeing the file amidst the hearing of a Constitution bench,” he said.

    The bench said it started hearing a batch of pleas seeking a collegium-like system for the appointment of ECs and the CEC last Thursday and Goel was appointed as an EC subsequently on November 19.

    Therefore, it wants to see what prompted the step.

    “We want to see what is the mechanism. We will not treat it as an adversarial and keep it for our record, but we want to know as you claim that everything is hunky dory. Since we were hearing the matter and appointment was made amidst, this may be interlinked. You have time till tomorrow. Produce the documents,” it told the AG.

    At the outset, Bhushan, who appeared on behalf of petitioner Anoop Baranwal and made his rejoinder submission, said after the court started hearing the mater, the government hurriedly appointed an election commissioner.

    “This election commissioner was, till Thursday, working as a secretary-level officer in the government. Suddenly, he was given VRS on Friday and appointed as an election commissioner,” Bhushan said.

    Justice Joseph said as far he recalls, it takes three months for a person to get voluntary retirement.

    On November 19, Goel, a 1985-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Punjab cadre, was appointed as an election commissioner.

    He was to retire on December 31 on attaining the age of 60 years.

    Once he assumes his new role, Goel would be in line to be the next CEC after incumbent Rajiv Kumar demits office in February 2025.

    He will join Kumar and Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey on the poll panel.

    There was a vacancy in the Election Commission (EC) following the retirement of previous CEC Sushil Chandra in May.

    Goel was the secretary in the Ministry of Heavy Industries till recently and his voluntary retirement came into effect on November 18.

    He has also served in the Union culture ministry.

  • Committee will be set up to make process of enlisting transgenders as voters easier: CEC

    Speaking about the hardships faced by transgenders while enlisting themselves as voters, Kumar told reporters that he and his colleagues had a meeting with a group of transgenders.

  • EC top brass reviews enforcement of COVID guidelines during campaigning in Bengal

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Saturday reviewed enforcement of COVID guidelines during campaigning in West Bengal where two remaining phases of assembly elections are to take place next week.

    A poll panel spokesperson said the EC top brass reviewed the enforcement of COVID guidelines with the West Bengal chief secretary, police chief, health secretary, and Kolkata police commissioner.

    The CEC directed them to ensure strict action under state and national disaster management laws for COVID-complaint behavior.

    The meet comes to a couple of days after the poll panel placed a ban on roadshows and foot marches, and placed a cap on the number of persons attending public meetings to 500.

    The Calcutta High Court on Thursday had expressed dissatisfaction with the ECI over enforcement of COVID-19 health safety norms during the ongoing West Bengal assembly election process, including campaigning.

    West Bengal on Friday registered the highest single-day spike of 12,876 COVID-19 cases taking the tally to 7,13,780, the state health department said in a bulletin.

    The death toll also went up to 10,825 with 59 fresh fatalities, it added.