Merely weeks ahead of the largest democratic exercise of the world, a three-member panel led by the Prime Minister himself, selected two IAS officers for the office of the Election Commission of India. The two new Election Commissioners are Mr. Gyanesh Kumar (1988 batch Kerala cadre IAS officer) and Mr. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu (1988 batch Uttarakhand cadre IAS officer).
Mr Kumar was a Secretary in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs. During his Home Ministry tenure, Kumar oversaw the abrogation of Article 370.
While Mr Sandhu, originally from Punjab, was named the chief secretary of Uttarakhand when Pushkar Singh Dhami became the Chief Minister of the state in 2021. Sandhu also served as the chairperson of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
This development follows a week after IAS Arun Goel abruptly resigned from the office of the ECI without citing any reason, and the superannuation of IAS Anup Pandey, leaving the Chief Election Commissioner Mr. Rajiv Kumar as the only member in the commission responsible for executing “free and fair” plebiscite in the nation.
Officer Kumar and Sandhu shall hold the office as Election Commissioners fora tenure of 6 years or till they attain the age of 65 years, whichever transpires earlier.
