Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, Gyanesh Kumar appointed election commissioners


Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led three-member committee on Thursday picked bureaucrats Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu as election commissioners. Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury shared this information with the media after the meeting.

The decision comes days after the resignation of Election Commissioner Arun Goel ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

The selection panel, which zeroed in on Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Gyanesh Kumar, includes the Prime Minister, the leader of the Opposition, and a designated Union Cabinet minister. Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is on the three-member panel in capacity as the opposition member.

Besides the Prime Minister and the Congress leader, Union Home Minister Amit Shah attended the meeting. The Congress leader, however, hit out at the Centre over the law that replaced the Chief Justice of India by a Union Minister on the selection committee.