‘Appointing CEC at midnight is outrageous’, political uproar over the appointment of new Chief Election Commissioner

The dispute between the government and the opposition on the appointment of the new Chief Election Commissioner of the country seems to be intensifying. Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has criticized the government’s move to appoint a new CEC even before the case related to the appointment panel of the Chief Election Commissioner is heard in the Supreme Court and has termed it against the dignity of the Constitution and law.

After expressing his disagreement in the meeting of the CEC appointment panel, Rahul Gandhi has alleged that the decision of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister to appoint a new Chief Election Commissioner at midnight in view of the hearing on the challenge given to the selection process in the Supreme Court is insulting and rude.

What argument did the opposition give on CEC?

All the opposition parties including the Congress have been demanding the appointment of a new CEC only after the hearing on the legality of the panel related to the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner in the Supreme Court. The opposition argues that the Election Commission and the CEC have a huge responsibility to conduct free and fair elections.

What did Rahul Gandhi raise in the meeting?

In such a situation, the fair appointment of the CEC cannot be done through a panel with the majority of the government. Rahul Gandhi, who attended the meeting of the CEC appointment panel chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday evening in the capacity of Leader of Opposition, had raised this issue and requested to postpone the proposal to appoint Gyanesh Kumar as the new Chief Election Commissioner in view of the hearing to be held in the Supreme Court on February 19.

Notification of appointment issued only a few hours after the meeting

However, a notification was issued late at night to appoint Gyanesh Kumar as Chief Election Commissioner and Vivek Joshi as Election Commissioner only a few hours after the meeting. Apart from the Prime Minister and Home Minister Amit Shah, the Leader of Opposition is a member of this appointment panel.

After the request was rejected, the Leader of Opposition gave his dissent note in the meeting. Rahul Gandhi shared the dissent note on X on Tuesday and said

‘I told the Prime Minister and the Home Minister that the most basic thing for an independent Election Commission free from executive interference is the process of selecting the Election Commissioner and the Chief Election Commissioner. By violating the order of the Supreme Court and removing the Chief Justice of the country from the appointment panel, the Modi government has raised the concerns of crores of voters on the integrity of our electoral process.’

Rahul mentioned Ambedkar’s speech

Referring to Ambedkar’s speech in the Constituent Assembly in June 1949 in the context of the establishment of an independent Election Commission, he said that Baba Saheb had then warned about the interference of the executive in the affairs of India’s democracy and the Election Commission.

Rahul Gandhi called the government’s move unfair

The Supreme Court had decided that the appointment of the CEC and Election Commissioners would be done by a three-member committee consisting of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the Chief Justice of India. The government then amended the law and decided to make the Home Minister a member of the panel instead of the Chief Justice. Rahul Gandhi said that this step of the government is a gross violation of the decision and spirit of the Supreme Court.