After Arun Goel's exit, Centre likely to appoint two new election commissioners by March 15

The government will appoint two election commissioners by March 15 as Arun Goel stepped down from his post.

A day after Arun Goel resigned from the post of election commissioner, the government has plans to appoint two new election commissioners by March 15, PTI reported citing sources. Centre is planning to fill two vacancies through this appointment - one created by Goel and the other by the retirement of Anup Chandra Pandey.

The Election Commission (EC) of India

In a surprise move, Arun Goel resigned from the post of election commissioner on Saturday. This came just days before the Election Commission of India (ECI) was expected to announce the schedule for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, to be held in April-May.

Goel's resignation was accepted by President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday and the Law Ministry issued a notification to announce it. This leaves Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar as the sole member of the poll body.

A search committee under law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and comprising the home secretary and the department of personnel and training (DoPT) Secretary will first prepare two separate panels of five names each for the two posts.

Later, a selection committee headed by the prime minister and comprising a Union minister and leader of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury will then name two persons for appointment as election commissioners.

After the selection process is complete, the new election commissioner will be appointed by President Droupadi Murmu. The selection committee will likely meet on March 13 or 14, and the final call will be taken by March 15, reported PTI.

Why did Arun Goel resign from his post?

While responding to queries on why Arun Goel stepped down from his post, sources cited by PTI said that he might have resigned due to personal reasons. They further rejected claims that there were differences between Goel and Rajiv Kumar.

The sources said that the records of internal communications, minutes and decisions show there was no dissent recorded by Goel. However, there were speculations of an internal discord when Goel did not attend the crucial meeting between the EC and top home ministry and railway officials to firm up the deployment and movement of central forces across India for poll duty.

Goel was a 1985-batch IAS officer of the Punjab cadre. He had joined the Election Commission in November 2022. His tenure was till December 5, 2027, and he would have become Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) after incumbent Rajiv Kumar retired in February next year.

(With inputs from PTI)