Finance
Less than 24 hours after they were selected by a panel led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, retired IAS officers Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu took charge as Election Commissioners on Friday morning.
To choose two candidates for the open EC positions, the Prime Minister’s committee, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Congress Leader in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, convened on Thursday afternoon. In the evening, President Droupadi Murmu appointed the two by releasing a notification in accordance with the Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023 and the Chief Election Commissioner Act.
These two appointments were the first to be carried out under the recently passed Act.
The two recently appointed Election Commissioners were greeted by CEC Rajiv Kumar, who also underlined the importance of their appointment at this momentous occasion when the Election Commission of India (ECI) is preparing to hold the Loks Sabha elections in the biggest democracy globally.
According to him, their squad has a busy few weeks ahead of them.
The Central government had earlier on Thursday night announced the appointment of the two Election Commissioners.
Kumar, a retired IAS officer of Kerala cadre 1988 batch, retired as Cooperation Secretary on January 31. He had earlier served in the Ministry of Home Affairs during the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. Sandhu, retired IAS officer of Uttarakhand cadre 1988 batch, was earlier Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand and was appointed as Secretary to the Lokpal for a year-long contract starting on February 3 this year.
Following the sudden resignation of former Election Commissioner Arun Goel on March 9 and the retirement of previous Commissioner C Anup Chandra Pandey in February, two EC positions were vacant.
