In response to election commissioner Arun Goel’s resignation just a few days before the next Lok Sabha polls, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee thanked him on Sunday for “not succumbing to BJP’s attempts at coercion”.
According to news agency, Banerjee said, “I salute Arun Goel for not succumbing to pressure by Delhi leaders (of BJP) and his top bosses in connection with the West Bengal LS polls and the deployment of forces.”
Speaking to a crowd at Brigade Parade Grounds in Kolkata She went on, saying it is “proven” that the NDA, led by the BJP, seeks to “loot” votes.
Akhilesh Yadav, the chief of the Samajwadi Party, had questioned whether the Election Commission was operating under duress earlier in the day. “Just before the elections, whose pressure there is on the Election Commission which is a constitutional body,” Yadav said when asked about Goel’s resignation.
Goel had given notice of his resignation on Saturday. His term ended on December 5, 2027, and he was scheduled to succeed incumbent Rajiv Kumar as Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) upon his retirement in February of that same year.
President Droupadi Murmu has accepted Goel’s resignation, effective Saturday, according to a statement from the law ministry. The reason behind his resignation was first unknown.
Goel was a Punjab cadre IAS official from the 1985 batch and is now a retired bureaucrat. The Election Commission hired him in November of 2022.
With Goel’s resignation and Anup Chandra Pandey’s retirement in February, the three-member EC is now down to just CEC Rajiv Kumar.
In August 2020, Ashok Lavasa, the election commissioner, had resigned prior to Goel. He had provided dissenting remarks on a number of model code infractions rulings made by the EC during the most recent Lok Sabha elections.
Two election commissioners are expected to be appointed by March 15 to cover the gaps left by Anup Chandra Pandey’s retirement and Goel’s unexpected resignation, according to sources cited in a news agency report on Sunday.
On February 14, Pandey left his position as governor after reaching the age of 65.
First, two distinct panels of five names each would be prepared for the two seats by a search committee headed by Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and consisting of the Secretaries of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) and the Home Department.
The prime minister will then designate two individuals for employment as election commissioners by means of a selection committee that also includes a Union minister and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the leader of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha.
The President will appoint the election commissioners.
