India - March 2024

On 9 March, Arun Goel abruptly resigned as Election Commissioner (EC) citing personal reasons, days before the general election schedule announcement, leaving the Election Commission of India (ECI) with only one of its three mandated top officials. The government swiftly appointed two new ECs, Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, selected by a three-member committee comprising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister Amit Shah, and the Leader of the Indian National Congress in the Lokh Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. This selection was made under the new Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners Act of 2023 passed in December 2023 –which replaced the Chief Justice of India with a Union cabinet minister on the three-member committee to regulate EC appointments. Opposition leaders criticized the Act and appointments, claiming Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu’s political ideologies align closely with the ruling party, potentially compromising the ECI’s independence. The Ministry of Law and Justice argued that senior government officials on the selection committee do not automatically imply bias. On 21 March, the Supreme Court (SC) dismissed challenges to the appointments, citing potential election chaos but criticizing the haste of the selection process. A Supreme Court challenge to the 2023 act is still pending.

Sources: International IDEA, The Hindu (1),  Al Jazeera, Times of India, The Hindu (2), The Economic Times, The Indian Express