Just a fortnight ahead of Lok Sabha poll results, the United Progressive Alliance Government has sought the Election Commission’s opinion if it could name the successor to Army chief General Bikram Singh, who is scheduled to retire three months from now.
Defence Minister A K Antony said the due process for appointment to the top Army post would be followed.
The successor to a retiring Army chief is usually named two months ahead, though on some occasions this has been done even three months in advance too, just as in the case of Bikram Singh, who was named so in the first week of March 2012, though then Army chief General V K Singh was retiring only by the end of May that year.
However, the Election Commission has not yet got back to the Ministry on what it thought of the matter, though the government already had a generic approval from the panel on all military appointments, promotions, and procurements, as these would not be covered under the Model Code of Conduct.