PM-led panel may meet on Monday to pick CEC
PM Modi and Rahul Gandhi will meet on Feb 17 to select the next Chief Election Commissioner, amid concerns over election transparency.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi are expected to meet on February 17 as party of the three-member selection panel to pick the successor for chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.
The panel, which also comprises Union home minister Amit Shah, will meet at the Prime Minister’s official residence ahead of the retirement of incumbent CEC Rajiv Kumar on February 18.
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The panel will recommend a name from among the candidates shortlisted by a search committee. The President will then appoint the next CEC based on the recommendation.
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After Rajiv Kumar, Gyanesh Kumar is the senior-most election commissioner. His tenure is till January 26, 2029. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu is the other election commissioner.
The meeting comes days after Gandhi alleged voter list manipulation during the Maharashtra assembly elections.
According to two senior Congress leaders, Gandhi is expected to emphasize that the EC maintain impartiality and transparency.
Earlier this month, the Rae Bareli MP also criticized the formation of the selection panel while addressing the Lok Sabha during the budget session.
“Now in a few days, I’m going to go to the meeting. It will be PM Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and me. It will be 2 vs 1,” he said, and questioned the removal of the Chief Justice of India from the panel.
“Whereas if the Chief Justice was there, we could have a discussion. It seems to be a calculated strategy,” Gandhi said referring to the new law which provides for the setting up of the search committee chaired by the Union law minister and two other persons not below the rank of secretary, to prepare a panel of five persons for consideration of the selection committee for appointment as CEC or ECs.
It provides for a selection committee, chaired by the Prime Minister, leader of Opposition and a Union minister, to make recommendations to the President for appointment of CEC and other ECs.
The law is currently under challenge in the Supreme Court.
A third Congress leader also said that Gandhi might ask for the names of shortlisted officers even as the usual practice under the Modi regime has been to furnish a list of all available and retired IAS officers to the LoP.
