Day after, Opposition asks: Did EC Arun Goel quit over differences, will he contest elections?

A day after the resignation, which caught even the top EC officials off-guard, it was business as usual at Nirvachan Sadan. With the announcement on the Lok Sabha election dates likely in days, CEC Rajiv Kumar was in office Sunday, according to sources. The preparations for the announcement of polls had not been affected by the resignation, they said.

The commission, which as of now comprises only Kumar, is set to brief over 2,000 observers who will be deployed across constituencies on Monday, following which the CEC will fly to Srinagar. Meetings with local authorities have been planned for Tuesday and Wednesday.

The poll panel is likely to decide on whether Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections can be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections after reviewing the security arrangements, sources said. The Supreme Court had in December last year set the deadline for holding Assembly elections in the UT as September 30, 2024.

Goel’s resignation, however, ignited a political firestorm. Addressing a public rally in Kolkata, Chief Minister Banerjee claimed that Goel faced pressure over deployment of security forces in Bengal. “I salute Arun Goel for not succumbing to pressure from Delhi leaders and his top bosses in connection with the West Bengal Lok Sabha polls and the deployment of forces. It is proven what they want to do in the name of the election. They want to loot votes,” she said.

The Congress said Goel’s resignation raised three questions. “Did he actually resign over differences with the Chief Election Commissioner or with the Modi Government, which does the front-seat driving for all supposedly independent institutions? Or did he resign for personal reasons? Or did he, like the Calcutta High Court judge a few days back, resign to contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls on a BJP ticket?” Congress communication head Jairam Ramesh asked.

Asked about Goel’s resignation, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said one has to wait to see what he does in the coming days. “I was thinking about the High Court judge who resigned and joined the BJP… and started abusing the TMC. It shows that the BJP has appointed people with such a mindset. Now the Election Commissioner has resigned, let us wait for some time to see what he does,” he said.

Delhi minister and AAP leader Atishi said Goel was the same Election Commissioner who was appointed by the BJP government in a “hurry”. “When his appointment came up for challenge in the Supreme Court, the court also asked ‘what was the tearing hurry’ that the file was cleared and he was appointed within 24 hours.”

“So such an Election Commissioner who was appointed by the BJP government, who was their person… whose appointment the government defended in the Supreme Court… if such an Election Commissioner has resigned… the entire country is today asking one question – what did the BJP-led government tell Arun Goel to do… what irregularities in elections he was asked to commit… that their own person could not do it and thought it is better to resign,” Atishi told a press conference.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav asked whether the Election Commission was working under pressure. “Just before the elections, whose pressure is on the Election Commission which is a constitutional body. The resignation raises questions about whose pressure is there on the Election Commission,” the former UP chief minister said.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut alleged that the Election Commission has become an “extended branch of the BJP”. It is not the same Election Commission that it was during T N Seshan’s time, which functioned as a watchdog for the elections and remained impartial, he claimed. “In the last 10 years, the Election Commission has been privatised. It has become a branch of the BJP,” he alleged.

“Like BJP’s people have been appointed in high courts, Supreme Court, Governor’s House, in the same manner, they would appoint two of their BJP people here too,” Raut claimed.

The CPM said the resignation of Goel on the eve of Lok Sabha elections “creates an atmosphere of uncertainty”.

“With the new law on appointment of ECs, the composition of the Election Commission is under the complete control of the government. This situation raises concerns that need to be addressed to ensure the credibility of this Constitutional entity and its capacity to conduct free and fair polls,” the CPM said and asked the government to “provide a clear statement on the circumstances in which this situation has emerged”.