Disrespectful for PM to have made midnight decision to appoint new CEC: Rahul

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said it is “disrespectful” and “discourteous” for the Prime Minister and Home Minister to have made a midnight decision to select the new Chief Election Commissioner when the process of selection is being challenged in the Supreme Court.

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The government late on Monday night appointed Gyanesh Kumar as the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), hours after the meeting of the PM -led selection committee.

Gandhi, who is in the three-member committee, had asked the government to defer the meeting in view of the Supreme Court hearing in the matter.

Gandhi also presented a dissent note to the panel, of which Home Minister Amit Shah is also a member.

He wrote that the Congress would like the process of choosing the next CEC be deferred until the Supreme Court hearing and meeting called for initiating the process of choosing CEC be postponed.

“It will be both disrespectful and discourteous to the institutions as well as to the founding leaders of our nation for this committee to continue with its process of choosing the next CEC when the very composition of this committee and the process is being challenged and soon to be heard by the Supreme Court”, Gandhi wrote in the dissent note.

In a judgement on March 2, 2023, the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court ordered that the appointment of the CEC and election commissioners should be undertaken by a committee comprising of the PM, LoP and Chief Justice of India (CJI), Gandhi wrote.

He added that the judgement reflected the larger concern of the voters regarding the integrity of electoral process.

Gandhi wrote in his dissent note that “this is also reflected in public surveys that show a continuing decline in trust of voters in India's election process and its institutions”.

The Congress leader said that despite the Supreme Court order, the Central Government notified a legislation on August 2023 that bypassed the spirit and the letter of the top court’s order.

The legislation reconstituted the committee to appoint the CEC and Election Commissioners to include the PM, the LoP and a Union cabinet minister and removing the CJI from the committee, Gandhi noted.

The Congress leader wrote that this government order was subsequently challenged by a public interest litigant. The Supreme Court has indicated its intention to take up the matter on February 19, 2025.

Gandhi noted that Constitution framer B R Ambedkar, while speaking in the Constituent Assembly in June 1949, warned about executive interference in India's democracy and the affairs of the Election Commission.

“The most fundamental aspect of the independent Election Commission free from executive interference is the process of choosing the Election Commissioners and the CEC”, Gandhi wrote in the dissent note.