New Delhi:

Gyanesh Kumar assumed charge Wednesday morning as the new Chief Election Commissioner.

Mr Kumar replaces Rajiv Kumar in the role and will oversee the conduct of nearly two-dozen elections, state and presidential, over the course of his four-year term. The new CEC is an ex-IAS officer from the Kerala cadre, and earlier served in the Home Ministry, under current Home Minister Amit Shah. Among his key responsibilities were the drafting of a bill that scrapped Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.

In his first remarks after taking charge, Mr Kumar said, “The first step for nation-building is voting. Therefore, every citizen of India who has completed 18 years of age should become an elector and should always vote. The Election Commission was, is, and will always be with the voters.”

Mr Kumar’s appointment – the notification was issued late last night – was made amid controversy after Rahul Gandhi and the Congress objected to his nomination.

Mr Gandhi is part of a three-member panel that was tasked with picking the new CEC, but the Congress leader submitted a dissent note instead, objecting to Gyanesh Kumar’s nomination despite a challenge – to the constitution of the panel – that is pending in the Supreme Court.

READ | Gyanesh Kumar Appointed New Chief Election Commissioner

The top court will hear those arguments later today.

In essence, the contention is the committee – which at present consists of the Prime Minister, a member of the union cabinet (to be nominated by the PM), and the Leader of the Opposition – is biased towards the ruling party, and impinges on the Election Commission’s neutrality.

NDTV Explains | Why Gyanesh Kumar’s Pick As Poll Chief Sparked Row

On Tuesday Mr Gandhi posted a sharp attack on X, in which he slammed the centre’s “midnight decision” to appoint Gyanesh Kumar as the next CEC, calling his nomination a ‘violation of the Supreme Court order (by) removing the Chief Justice of India from the selection committee”.

READ | “Midnight Decision Disrespectful”: Rahul Gandhi Note On Poll Chief Selection

“During the meeting of the committee to select the next (Chief) Election Commissioner, I presented a dissent note to the PM and HM that stated: ‘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,” Mr Gandhi had said.

During the meeting of the committee to select the next Election Commissioner, I presented a dissent note to the PM and HM, that stated: The most fundamental aspect of an independent Election Commission free from executive interference is the process of choosing the Election… pic.twitter.com/JeL9WSfq3X

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 18, 2025

“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,” Mr Gandhi said on X.

READ | All About Gyanesh Kumar, New Chief Election Commissioner

The reference was to an earlier order by the Supreme Court that said the PM, the LoP and the Chief Justice of India should be on the selection committee. To circumvent that ruling the central government later rushed through a bill to replace the Chief Justice.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission has announced that Dr Vivek Joshi took office this morning as the new third member of the panel. Dr Joshi is a 1989-batch IAS officer from the Haryana cadre.

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New Delhi:

The government has opposed any stay on the law to appoint election commissioners, arguing that any challenges to the legislation are politically motivated and “created only on basis of unsupported and pernicious statements”. The government also pointed out challenges to the Chief Election Commissioners Act did not question credentials of persons appointed to the Election Commission.

Responding to the petitioners, the government on Wednesday underlined the point that no objection had been raised about the competence or eligibility of either of the two new appointees. “Instead, a political controversy is sought to be created… only on the basis of bare, unsupported, and pernicious statements about vague and unspecified motives…” the government said.

The government also said the petitioners had failed to submit objections about the qualification of any candidate to hold a Constitutional post, and that, on this ground alone, it should be dismissed.

The CEC Act removes the Chief Justice of India from a high-level panel to select members of the Election Commission; under this law the three-member committee now includes the Prime Minister, a member of the union cabinet, and the Leader of the Opposition. The removal of the Chief Justice – seen as an impartial vote – has given rise to concerns the government can force-pick its nominees.

However, the government today argued independence of the ECI – tasked with organising polls- does not follow because a member of the judiciary is on the panel that selects the commissioners.

READ | Supreme Court Refuses To Stay Law To Appoint Election Commissioners

Individuals holding such high office are “presumed to act fairly”, the government said.

The Supreme Court is hearing yet another petition challenging exclusion of the Chief Justice from the panel that appoints election commissioners. Last month it refused, for a second time, to ban the law.

All of this comes with the Lok Sabha election now less than a month away.

READ | Petition In Top Court To Restrain Centre From Appointing Poll Officers

The CEC Act came into sharp focus after two new Election Commissioners were appointed this month, days before the ECI announced dates for the Lok Sabha and four Assembly polls.

Arun Goel stepped down from the panel earlier this month and Anup Chandra Pandey retired last month, leaving only Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on the three-member panel.

READ | Why Election Commissioner Arun Goel Resigned Weeks Before 2024 Polls

The appointments of Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu were promptly challenged, but have not, so far, been struck down or stayed by the Supreme Court.

The most recent petition against the CEC Act has been filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms, or ADR, an apolitical and non-partisan non-profit organisation working electoral and political reforms.

Last year, a Constitution bench of the Supreme Court ruled top poll officials must be appointed on the recommendation of a committee comprising the Chief Justice, the PM and the Leader of the Opposition.

Months later, the government passed a legislation dropping the Chief Justice from the selection panel and replacing him/her with a Union Minister, effectively giving itself a 2:1 majority.

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