Congress slams Gyanesh Kumar’s appointment as CEC: ‘To circumvent Supreme Court scrutiny…’

The Congress has criticized the Centre’s decision to appoint Gyanesh Kumar as the chief election commissioner, calling it a rushed move. The party accused the BJP-led government of attempting to bypass the Supreme Court’s review of the panel’s composition that recommended his name.

Congress Slams CEC Appointment as Unconstitutional and Biased

On Monday night, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal wrote on X that the decision violates the spirit of the Constitution and disregards the Supreme Court’s repeated rulings, emphasizing that the CEC must be an impartial stakeholder to uphold the sanctity of the electoral process

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Venugopal Criticizes CEC Appointment, Calls for Wait Until SC Hearing

KC Venugopal, one of the party’s senior-most leaders, criticized the government for removing the Chief Justice of India (CJI) from the CEC selection panel through an amended law. He asserted that the government should have waited until the Supreme Court’s hearing on Wednesday (February 19) before appointing the officer.

The announcement of Kumar’s appointment came hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led selection panel proposed his name. However, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, a member of the selection panel, objected to the timing of the meeting as a case related to the constitution of the panel will be heard by the apex court on Wednesday.

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Gyanesh Kumar’s Appointment Sparks Controversy Amid Opposition Dissent

The Prime Minister’s office hosted the selection panel meeting, which union home minister Amit Shah also attended. Gandhi officially submitted a dissent note. Gyanesh Kumar, a Kerala cadre IAS officer from the 1988 batch, retired as the secretary of the Ministry of Cooperation before the government appointed him as an election commissioner last year.

He served as a secretary in Amit Shah’s ministry starting in May 2022. Before that, he spent five years in the home ministry—first as a joint secretary from May 2016 to September 2018 and then as an additional secretary from September 2018 to April 2021. As an additional secretary, he led the Jammu & Kashmir desk when the government abrogated Article 370 in August 2019. In 2024, the government appointed him as an election commissioner.