Former bureaucrats Sukhbir Sandhu, Gyanesh Kumar appointed new ECs

Their appointment fills the vacancies created by the retirement of Anup Chandra Pandey in February and the surprise resignation of Arun Goel last Saturday.

Its full strength restored, the Election Commission is expected to announce the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections any day now.

Soon after the meeting of the committee – it comprised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury – Chowdhury said he had recorded his dissent and questioned the procedure that was followed, saying the names of shortlisted officers were not made available to him in advance despite his request. He said the government sent him the names of over 200 officers Wednesday.

Chowdhury told The Indian Express that the government shared with him the names of six shortlisted candidates minutes before the start of the meeting Thursday.

“Eight to ten minutes before the meeting started, the papers of the search committee were shared with me. I was given a short list of six names and Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal apprised the selection committee of the details of these six officers, the posts that they had held, their administrative record and all. It was said that the committee has to select two names from this list of six officers,” he said.

The six officers on the shortlist, according to Chowdhury, were Utpal Kumar Singh, Pradip Kumar Tripathi, Gyanesh Kumar, Indevar Pandey, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Sudhir Kumar Gangadhar Rahate.

“Amit Shah then proposed two names – that of Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbhir Singh Sandhu. The Prime Minister then asked whether I would like to say something. I told them that I had already asked the government to make available to me the bio-profiles of shortlisted candidates which would have helped me make an informed decision,” Chowdhury said.

“But that was not done. I reached Delhi from my constituency last night. And to my surprise, I found an exhaustive list of 212 officers which was delivered at night. How am I supposed to find out details about 212 officers?… details about their integrity, experience and administrative capability… in such a short time. That is why I had asked for the bio-profiles of the shortlisted candidates,” he said.

“So I told the Prime Minister and Home Minister that I have been presented with a fait accompli. I told them you have the majority in the panel… you have an open field… you can do whatever you want. What can I do? And I told them that I would oppose it because there are procedural lapses,” Chowdhury said.

“I told them that I have nothing against any individual. I don’t know Gyanesh Kumar or Sukhbir Singh Sandhu. I don’t have any friendship or enmity with them. Among the six was one from my home state of Bengal: Indevar Pandey. I know about him… He is considered a good and capable officer. But I told them it is about procedure. If the government wanted the Opposition to be part of the exercise, they should have done it properly so that I could also make a contribution,” he said.

“So I told them that you have proposed these two names, you are merely completing the formality… I will also complete the formality and record my dissent. I told them to take my dissent on record. And the dissent was about the procedural lapses. I am not a magician to find out and go through the details of 212 officers,” Chowdhury said.

Sandhu, from the 1988 batch of the Uttarakhand cadre of the IAS, was appointed Secretary, Lokpal on contract basis for a year, starting February 3. Earlier, he was Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand. He was Chairman of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) during 2019-2021. At the Centre, he also served in the Ministry of Education.

Gyanesh Kumar, from the Kerala cadre of the 1988 batch of IAS, retired as Secretary, Cooperation on January 31 this year. During his tenure, the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (MSCS) (Amendment) Act, 2023, was enacted and three new national cooperative bodies – Bharatiya Beej Sahakari Samiti Limited (BBSSL), National Cooperative Organics Limited (NCOL) and National Cooperative Export Limited (NCEL) – were formed. Besides, he played a key role in the timely launch of the CRCS-Sahara refund portal for submission of claims by genuine depositors of four Multi-State Cooperative Societies of Sahara Group.

Earlier, Kumar was Secretary, Parliamentary Affairs. At the time of the Centre’s move to abrogate Article 370 in 2019, he was Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs. During the UPA government, Kumar served as Joint Secretary (Defence Production) in the Ministry of Defence from 2007 to 2012.