Congress slams Gyanesh Kumar's appointment as CEC: 'To circumvent Supreme Court scrutiny…'

The Congress has called the Centre's notification on the appointment of Gyanesh Kumar as the chief election commissioner a “hastily taken decision”. The party alleged the BJP-led government was keen to circumvent the Supreme Court's scrutiny of the structure of the panel that recommended the officer's name.

"This goes against the spirit of our Constitution, and what has been reiterated by the Supreme Court in many cases – for the electoral process to have sanctity, the CEC must be an impartial stakeholder," Congress general secretary KC Venugopal wrote on X on Monday night.

KC Venugopal, one of the senior-most leaders in the party, said the amended law dealing with the appointment of election commissioners had removed the Chief Justice of India (CJI) from the CEC selection panel and the government ought to have waited until the apex court's hearing in the matter on Wednesday (February 19) before selecting the officer.