‘Discourteous’, Rahul Gandhi opposes CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s ‘midnight appointment’, ‘defer the process until SC hearing’

Rahul Gandhi strongly opposed the appointment of Gyanesh Kumar as the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), criticising the Narendra Modi government for removing the Chief Justice of India (CJI) from the selection committee. The Congress leader argued that this move undermines the independence of the Election Commission and violates a Supreme Court ruling.

On Monday, President Droupadi Murmu appointed Gyanesh Kumar as the CEC and Haryana Chief Secretary Dr. Vivek Joshi as Election Commissioner. This decision followed a high-level committee meeting led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. During the meeting, Rahul Gandhi urged the government to delay the appointment, citing an upcoming Supreme Court hearing on the legality of the new selection process.

The Congress party insists that appointing the new CEC before the Supreme Court’s hearing on February 19, 2025, is disrespectful to democratic institutions. Rahul Gandhi urged the government to postpone the appointment process, stating that proceeding with the selection now would be “discourteous” and could compromise electoral integrity.

Rahul Gandhi’s dissent letter states, “In a judgement on 2nd March 2023, the Constitutional Bench of the Hon’ble Supreme Court ordered that the appointment of the CEC and election commissioners should be undertaken by a committee comprising of the Hon. Prime Minister, Hon. Leader of Opposition and Hon. Chief Justice of India.,” Leader of opposition wrote in a letter to the president.

The Supreme Court judgement reflected the larger concern among hundreds of millions of voters over the integrity of our electoral process. This is also reflected in public surveys that show a continuing decline in trust of voters in India’s election process and its institutions. Unfortunately, soon after the Supreme Court order, the Government of India notified a legislation in August 2023 that bypassed the spirit and the letter of the Supreme Court’s order. The government legislation reconstituted the committee to appoint the CEC and Election Commissioners to include the Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition and a Union Cabinet Minister to be appointed by the Prime Minister and removing the Chief Justice from the committee. This is in flagrant violation of the letter and spirit of the Supreme Court order.”

“This government order was subsequently challenged by a public interest litigant. The Supreme Court has indicated its intention to take up this matter on 19th February 2025, less than forty-eight hours away. Therefore, it is the view of the Congress party that the process of choosing the next CEC be deferred until the Supreme Court hearing and this meeting be postponed. It will be both disrespectful and discourteous to the institutions as well as to the founding leaders of our nation for this committee to continue with its process of choosing the next CEC, when the very composition of this committee and the process is being challenged and soon to be heard by the Hon. Supreme Court,” Rahul Gandhi adds.