Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu have been appointed as Election Commissioners, as per an official government notice issued on Thursday.
This announcement follows shortly after the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury revealed that the two former IAS officers had been selected for the positions.
Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu are taking over from Anup Chandra Pandey and Arun Goel. Pandey retired on February 14 upon reaching the age of 65, while Goel resigned abruptly, surprising many.
Given the proximity of the Lok Sabha elections, it was crucial to have all three Election Commissioners in place. The Election Commission is led by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar.
Sources indicate that the Commission is expected to announce the dates for the Lok Sabha polls on March 15 or 16.
The selection of the new Election Commissioners followed a meeting of a three-member high-level selection board chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was one of the three members of the panel tasked with choosing the poll officers.
Chowdhury raised objections to the process used to appoint the election commissioners. He stated that he received a list of 212 names late on Wednesday night and had to attend the meeting at 12 pm on Thursday.
Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu were selected from a pool of six shortlisted candidates, all of whom are former bureaucrats.
