Election Commissioner Arun Goel tendered his resignation on Saturday, just days before the anticipated announcement of the schedule for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Goel's tenure, which began in November 2022, was expected to last until December 2027. President Droupadi Murmu accepted his resignation with immediate effect, according to a law ministry notification. The reason behind Goel's resignation remains undisclosed.

A retired bureaucrat and a 1985-batch IAS officer of the Punjab cadre, Arun Goel's departure leaves Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar as the sole member of the three-member Election Commission panel.

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List of Former Election Commissioners and Their Tenures

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has seen several notable figures hold the positions of Election Commissioner and Chief Election Commissioner over the years. Here is a list of their names along with their respective tenures, as per ECI's website:

Former Election Commissioners

Names Tenure
1. V.S. Seigell October 16, 1989 to January 2, 1990
2. S.S. Dhanoa October 16, 1989 to January 2, 1990
3. G.V.G. Krishnamurty October 01, 1993 to September 30, 1999
4. Ashok Lavasa October 23, 2018 to August 31, 2020
5. Anup Chandra Pandey June 09, 2021 to Feb 14, 2024
6. Arun Goel November 21, 2022 to March 9, 2024

Former Chief Election Commissioners

Names Tenure
1. Sukumar Sen  March 21, 1950 to December 19, 1958
2. KVK Sundaram  December 20, 1958 to September 30, 1967
3. SP Sen Verma  October 1, 1967 to September 30, 1972
4. Nagendra Singh  October 1, 1972 to February 6, 1973
5. T Swaminathan February 7, 1973 to June 17, 1977
6. SL Shakdhar  June 18, 1977 to June 17, 1982
7. RK Trivedi  June 18, 1982 to December 31, 1985
8. RVS Peri Sastri January 1, 1986 to November 25, 1990
9.  VS Ramadevi  November 26, 1990 to December 11, 1990
10. TN Seshan  December 12, 1990 to December 11, 1996
11. MS Gill  December 12, 1996 to June 13, 2001
12. J.M. Lyngdoh  June 14, 2001 to Feb 7, 2004
13. T.S. Krishna Murthy  Feb 8, 2004 to May 15,  2005
14. B.B. Tandon  May 16,  2005 to June 29,  2006
15. N. Gopalaswami  June 30,  2006 to April 20, 2009
16. Navin B. Chawla  April 21, 2009 to July 29, 2010
17. S.Y. Quraishi  July 30, 2010 to June 10,  2012
18. V.S. Sampath  June 11, 2012 to Jan 15,  2015
19. H.S. Brahma  Jan 16, 2015 to April 18, 2015
20. Nasim Zaidi  April 19, 2015 to July 05,  2017
21. A K Joti  July 06, 2017 to January 22,  2018

As per the regulations, the President appoints the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners, who serve a tenure of six years or until the age of 65, whichever comes first. They are entitled to the same status, salary, and benefits as Supreme Court judges. Removal of the Chief Election Commissioner follows the same procedures and grounds as that of a Supreme Court judge.