Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, who is a member of the panel to appoint the CEC, on Tuesday shared his dissent note on the appointment of Gyanesh Kumar as the Chief Election Commissioner.
Kumar’s name was finalised by the selection panel and he is the first CEC to be appointed under new law on the appointment of election commissioners. Besides Gandhi, PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah are other members of the panel.
Kumar’s appointment was made hours after Congress asked the government to defer its decision on the new CEC till the Supreme Court concludes its hearing on a petition challenging the composition of the selection panel.
Rahul Shares Dissent Note
Gandhi said he presented a dissent note to PM Modi and Shah during the meeting of the committee. “The most fundamental aspect of an independent Election Commission free from executive interference is the process of choosing the Election Commissioner and Chief Election Commissioner,” he said as per a dissent note shared by him.
The note added, “By violating the Supreme Court order and removing the Chief Justice of India from the committee, the Modi Government has exacerbated the concerns of hundreds of millions of voters over the integrity of our electoral process.”
He wrote as the Leader Of the Opposition, it is his duty to uphold the ideals of Babasaheb Ambedkar and the founding leaders of the nation and hold the government to account. “It is both disrespectful and discourteous for the PM and HM to have made a midnight decision to select the new CEC, when the very composition of the committee and the process is being challenged in the Supreme Court and is due to be heard in less than forty-eight hours,” Gandhi added.
Kumar will continue as the CEC till January 26, 2029, days before the EC is expected to announce the schedule of the next Lok Sabha election. During his tenure as the 26th CEC, Kumar will oversee the Bihar Assembly polls later this year, and the Kerala and Puducherry Assembly polls in 2026.
Similarly, he will oversee the Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, which are also due in 2026.
