New ECs take charge; no stay on appointments
The petitioners argued that this law had been enacted to get the better of a March 2023 Supreme Court judgment in the Anoop Baranwal case, which had called for a fair and transparent appointments’ mechanism, with the participation of the Chief Justice of India as a member of the selection committee.
Opposition leader a figurehead
The petitioners argued that even this new law, which rolled the dice heavily in favour of the Union government, was violated when the “minority” member of the selection committee and leader of the largest Opposition party, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of the Congress, found himself reduced to the status of a figurehead by a majority vote on March 14.
Mr. Chowdhury was given 212 names of candidates only a day prior to the selection committee meeting. He had told the media that he was provided the names of shortlisted candidates only 10 minutes prior to the appointment.
This was a violation of Section 6 of the 2023 Act, which required the selection panel members to be given ample opportunity to make a considered decision regarding the candidates.
Veteran bureaucrats
Mr. Kumar and Mr. Sandhu were appointed following vacancies created by the sudden resignation of Election Commissioner Arun Goel on March 9, and the retirement of Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey on February 15.
Mr. Kumar, a Keralacadre IAS officer, superannuated as the Cooperation Secretary and oversaw the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir during his tenure in the Union Home Ministry. He also played a key role in setting up the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust and had also been the Parliamentary Affairs Secretary.
Mr. Sandhu served as Uttarakhand Chief Secretary during Pushkar Singh Dhami’s tenure as the Chief Minister. Earlier, he had served as the Chairman of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).