NEW DELHI: As Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar is set to demit office on February 18, a selection committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet early next week to finalise his successor.
The panel’s members include Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Home Minister Amit Shah. The panel could meet either on Sunday or Monday ahead of the retirement of incumbent CEC Rajiv Kumar. The panel will choose Kumar’s successor from a list of five names shortlisted by a search panel chaired by Law Minister Arjun Meghwal. The president will then appoint the CEC based on the recommendation.
The Election Commission has the CEC and two election commissioners — Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu at present. Being the senior-most election commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar is considered to be the potential candidate for the poll panel chief. His tenure is till January 26, 2029.
Though the senior-most EC was elevated as CEC until now, after a new law on appointments of the CEC and ECs came into force last year, a search committee shortlists names of five secretary-level officers for consideration by a PM-led panel for appointment to the posts. Besides CEC, a new EC could also be appointed to fill the vacancy created by Kumar’s retirement.
While provisions of the “Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023” are being applied for the first time to appoint a CEC, it was used to appoint ECs Gyanesh Kumar and Sandhu to fill the vacancies created by retirement of Anup Chandra Pandey and the resignation of Arun Goel last year.
According to the law, the CEC and ECs will be appointed by the president on the recommendation of a selection committee headed by the prime minister and comprising the Lok Sabha opposition leader and a Union Cabinet minister to be nominated by the prime minister.
The appointment of the new CEC will be another political flashpoint with Opposition upping the ante on poll transparency. In his recent speech in the Lok Sabha, Gandhi questioned the removal of the CJI from the committee responsible for appointing the EC. He argued that this move undermines the balance of power and transparency in the electoral process.