Election Commissioner Arun Goel Resigns Ahead Of Lok Sabha Polls 2024
Election Commissioner Arun Goel resigned ahead Of Lok Sabha Elections 2024.
Election Commissioner Arun Goel resigned ahead Of Lok Sabha Elections 2024. The reason of his resignation was not immediately known. Goel, a retired bureaucrat, was a 1985-batch IAS officer of the Punjab cadre. He had joined the Election Commission in November 2022.
Election Commissioner Arun Goel resigns. pic.twitter.com/tc8aFV3Jmc
— All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) March 9, 2024
According to a notification from the Law Ministry, Goel’s resignation has been accepted by President Droupadi Murmu with effect from Saturday.
President accepts the resignation tendered by Arun Goel, Election Commissioner with effect from the 9th March 2024: Ministry of Law & Justice pic.twitter.com/88tuyXm4uP
— ANI (@ANI) March 9, 2024
After the retirement of Anup Chandra Pandey in February and Goel's resignation, the three-member Election Commission now has only one member, CEC Rajiv Kumar. According to the new law on the appointment of CECs and ECs, a search committee headed by the law minister and comprising two union secretaries will shortlist five names.
Then a selection committee, headed by the Prime Minister and comprising a Union Cabinet Minister to be nominated by the PM and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha or the leader of the single-largest opposition party in the House, picks one name. After that, the CEC, or EC, gets appointed by the President.
Ashok Lavasa resigned as Election Commissioner in August 2020. Originally, the commission had only a CEC. It currently consists of the CEC and two election commissioners.
Two additional commissioners were first appointed on October 16, 1989, but they had a very short tenure until January 1, 1990. Later, on October 1, 1993, two additional election commissioners were appointed. The concept of a multi-member EC has been in operation since then, with decisions made by a majority vote.
Following the resignation of Arun Goel, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge took to social media platform X to voice his concerns, questioning the sudden departure of Goel just days before the expected announcement of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The Congress chief underscored the significant reduction in the Election Commission's strength, noting that India now has only one Election Commissioner amidst the impending electoral process.
He remarked, "As I have said earlier, if we do NOT stop the systematic decimation of our independent institutions, our DEMOCRACY shall be usurped by DICTATORSHIP ! ECI will now be among the last Constitutional institutions to fall."
"Since the new process of selecting the Election Commissioners have now effectively given all the power to the ruling party and the PM, why has the new Election Commissioner not appointed even after 23 of the completion of latter's tenure? Modi Govt must answer these questions and come out with a reasonable explanation," he added.
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