The bombshell dropped late on Saturday. Election Commissioner (EC) Arun Goel, who till Friday was busy with meetings on Lok Sabha poll preparations, has resigned and now going into the parliamentary elections the three-member poll body is just a one-member organisation comprising Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar. The decision took the Opposition by surprise and the effects of its fallout are expected to play out on Sunday. “India now has only ONE Election Commissioner, even as Lok Sabha elections are to be announced in few days. Why?” asked Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. “As I have said earlier, if we do NOT stop the systematic decimation of our independent institutions, our DEMOCRACY shall be usurped by DICTATORSHIP! ECI will now be among the last Constitutional institutions to fall,” he posted on X. Election Commission or Election OMISSION? India now has only ONE Election Commissioner, even as Lok Sabha elections are to be announced in few days. Why? As I have said earlier, if we do NOT stop the systematic decimation of our independent institutions, our DEMOCRACY shall… — Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) March 9, 2024 Senior RJD MP Manoj Jha and Trinamool Congress (TMC) Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale also expressed worries about the developments in the EC. How the Opposition responds and how the government handles the concerns being expressed will be closely tracked throughout the day. Among the questions that are likely to be raised are: What next for the Election Commission? Why did Goel resign? Will a new Commissioner be chosen before the poll schedule is announced or will it be just Rajiv Kumar going forward? The answer to the last question, as Damini Nath and Manoj CG report, is most likely not. A meeting of the Prime Minister-headed high-level panel to pick Election Commissioners is likely to be held on March 14 or 15. The government, sources said, had already sounded out Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury who is the Opposition member in the committee about the possible dates. Rajiv Kumar, Goel, and other EC officials who have been travelling across the country to review poll preparedness were earlier scheduled to visit Jammu and Kashmir on March 12 and 13. Now, it may just be the CEC and other officials who make this visit and any others that are on their schedule. TMC to launch LS poll campaign West Bengal, by any measure, is one of the key battlegrounds that will determine if the BJP can match Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s target of 370 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. A day after Modi addressed a rally in Siliguri — his third in the state within a week — the Trinamool Congress (TMC) will launch its Lok Sabha campaign with a rally at the Brigade Parade Grounds in Kolkata. Named the “Jana Garjan Sabha”, the rally will be addressed by party supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, her nephew and the party’s number two. Unlike the Brigade rally before the 2019 elections, when several leaders of other non-BJP parties were present at the TMC event, this one is expected to be solely a TMC affair. It will be interesting to observe how Mamata and Abhishek respond to the BJP and the PM’s attacks over the Sandeshkhali episode. PM in Uttar Pradesh Meanwhile, a day after his four-state whirlwind tour, at around noon Modi will address a rally in Azamgarh, which the BJP wrested from the Samajwadi Party (SP) in a 2022 bypoll. By retaining the erstwhile SP bastion, the ruling party hopes to send a message of dominance across Uttar Pradesh’s Purvanchal and beyond. In support of this strategy, Modi will virtually inaugurate and lay the foundation stones of 16 airport projects to be built at an overall investment of over Rs 12,000 crore. Five of the 16 airport projects are for Uttar Pradesh, including an airport terminal of the Gwalior Aerodrome, besides new facilities and terminals at Lucknow, Aligarh, Shravasti, and Azamgarh. The list also includes the new T1 terminal building for Delhi. Overall, Modi is scheduled to unveil or lay the foundation of projects worth Rs 34,000 crore in UP, according to a government statement. Recommended reading: Battleground Azamgarh — To retain Akhilesh’s former seat, BJP banks on Modi blitz Around 2.15 PM, Modi will reach Varanasi to disburse the first instalment under the Mahatari Vandana Yojana in Chhattisgarh via video conferencing. The scheme aims to provide a monthly financial assistance of Rs 1,000 to eligible married women in the state directly into their bank accounts. BJP poll list meeting The PM is expected to return to Delhi by the evening and chair a meeting of the BJP’s Central Election Committee (CEC) to discuss the second list of the party's Lok Sabha poll candidates. Former Karnataka CM B S Yediyurappa, who is a member of the CEC as well as the party’s Parliamentary Board, has said a “clear picture” about the party’s candidates from Karnataka may be expected after the meeting. The BJP leader said there was no clarity yet on seat-sharing arrangements with the Janata Dal (Secular), which joined the NDA last September. “We will get to know which one will be given to them and which one not only after going there (Delhi)," PTI quoted Yediyurappa as saying.
