New Delhi: A committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has picked two retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers – Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Gyanesh Kumar – as election commissioners (ECs). They are scheduled to be sworn in tomorrow (March 15), according to a gazette notification issued by the government.
A meeting of the selection committee was held at the prime minister’s residence on Thursday (March 14).
These appointments have come just days before a schedule for the general elections is expected to be announced.
In contravention of the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court in the Anoop Banarwal judgment of March 2, 2023, the Chief Justice was not in the panel. Instead, on the committee to pick two ECs were his senior party colleague and Union home minister Amit Shah, and the Congress’s Adhir Chowdhury, the leader of the largest Opposition party in the Lok Sabha.
Just minutes after the meeting ended, Choudhury stated publicly that he was neither given adequate time to look at the profile of the candidates for the post nor given the list of the shortlisted names. The entire list of 212 candidates was handed over to him just a day before the meeting, he said.
Essentially, it implies that the candidates were shortlisted between Modi and Shah.
That the PM-led committee announced the appointment of the ECs just a day before the Supreme Court was to hear a petition challenging the legitimacy of the committee itself on grounds of its stranglehold over the independence of the Election Commission, has raised questions regarding the urgency displayed by the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP)-led government.
The new ECs are scheduled to take the oath tomorrow morning (March 15), while the matter will also be heard on the same day.
Who is Gyanesh Kumar?
A retired IAS officer of the Kerala cadre, Gyanesh Kumar belongs to the 1988 batch. Kumar has worked closely with Shah, both as minister of home affairs and as the minister of cooperatives. Kumar also worked as the parliamentary affairs secretary.
Kumar has been the key person for a number of significant moves that the Modi government had embarked on after its return to power in 2019.
*As joint secretary of the Kashmir desk at the Ministry of Home Affairs, Kumar worked closely with Amit Shah in the transition of the state of Jammu and Kashmir into a Union Territory in August 2019. He was an active participant in the preparation of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, which then became an Act. The reading down of Article 370 was the first massive decision that the Modi government took after its return to power in 2019. Shah became the home minister in 2019 replacing Rajnath Singh.
*After the successful completion of the Kashmir project, Kumar, in January 2020, was deputed by Shah to the Ayodhya desk at the MHA. As the head of this desk, he oversaw the formation of the Trust to build the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. The consecration of the temple, built under the watch of that Trust, was carried out by Modi on January 22, an occasion being used by Modi-Shah and their party to garner votes in the ensuing general election.
*Around the time Modi inaugurated the temple at Ayodhya, Kumar retired from service. After heading the Ayodhya desk, he was dispatched to the parliamentary affairs ministry as its secretary in April 2021. One of the major aberrations noticed during that period in parliament was a blanket ban – first ever – on journalists with government accreditation to cover the sessions. It was also the time the Modi government was constructing the new parliament building and the Central Vista area as a symbol of ‘Naya Bharat’.
By the time Modi inaugurated the new parliament building, Kumar, often termed as one of Shah’s right-hand man in the power corridors of Delhi, was sent to another ministry. This ministry is also headed by Shah – the Ministry of Cooperation. In May 2022, Kumar became secretary, Ministry of Cooperation.
Before retiring from service in January, Kumar had put together three cooperative societies within the ministry, a flagship project of the Modi government.
“During his tenure, the cooperation ministry saw enactment of the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (MSCS) (Amendment) Act, 2023, and formation of three new national cooperative bodies — Bharatiya Beej Sahakari Samiti Limited (BBSSL), National Cooperative Organics Limited (NCOL), and National Cooperative Export Limited (NCEL). He played a crucial 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,” wrote the Indian Express after the news spread about his name as one of the election commissioners.
Interestingly, a day before Kumar was reportedly picked by the committee to the post, Shah inaugurated a new office to unroll the work that was to be carried out under those cooperative societies. He called them a panacea to “solve many problems of Indian agriculture” and that they would “enhance farmers’ income by promoting exports of farm products, including organic foods.”
A Press Information Bureau note said, while inaugurating the office, “Shah mentioned that under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, we are moving ahead with the vision of ‘Sahakar se Samriddhi’.”
Who is S.S. Sandhu?
Sandhu, another retired IAS officer from the 1988 batch, happens to be a batchmate of Kumar, from the Uttarakhand cadre.
Before being sent back to Uttarakhand to take over as the chief secretary in July 2021, Sandhu was the chairman of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). He took over the reins of the NHAI in October 2019.
Sandhu was instrumental in carrying out some of the key road projects of the Modi government, including constructing a record number of highways. This accomplishment of NHAI under Sandhu has been a key party campaign highlight. Modi has been seen inaugurating highways to showcase that the NHAI’s achievement is actually because of him.
Sandhu was to retire as Uttarakhand chief secretary in July 2023. However, he was given a six-month extension because of “the ongoing works at Kedarnath and Badrinath, as well as a number of key projects funded by the Centre that are underway…”, as per the Times of India.
The projects around the Hindu pilgrimage sites of Badrinath and Kedarnath have been one of the flagship initiatives of the Modi government.
Modi’s visit to Badrinath and Kedarnath in October 2021 to launch those projects made headlines. Sandhu oversaw those projects at the state level.
