Many top donors were under ED, I-T Dept. scanner
Former bureaucrats Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu assumed charge as Election Commissioners on Friday, a day after their selection by a highpowered panel chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Supreme Court refused to intervene immediately on a petition urging a stay on their appointments, on the grounds that the hurry and lack of transparency shown by the government has sent a wrong message that the two retired IAS officers are “favourable” to the regime in power.
This is the first time that Election Commissioners have been appointed in accordance with the new Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023, which was brought in by the government last December, and which replaces the Chief Justice of India with a Cabinet Minister in the selection panel chaired by the
Prime Minister.
Appearing before a threejudge Bench headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna, the petitioners — including Association for Democratic Reforms and Congress leader Jaya Thakur and others, represented by senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Vikas Singh, and advocate Prashant Bhushan — said the enactment of the new law, which gives the Union government a dominant role in the selection and appointment of Election Commissioners, had worked to its advantage.
However, the Bench relied on a technical point that legislative enactments are not “normally” stayed. The court adjourned the case to March 22.
Listing out the series of circumstances which raised suspicions about the process, advocate Prashant Bhushan said that the government had deliberately advanced the meeting of the highprofile selection committee by a day to time the appointments ahead of the court hearing on March 15.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State secretary M.V. Govindan on Friday said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan would lead mammoth rallies across Kerala to muster public opinion against the Centre’s move to implement the “patently antiMuslim” Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).
Mr Vijayan posted on X: “The International Day to Combat Islamophobia serves as a poignant reminder of the increasing hate crimes and intolerance directed towards Muslims worldwide. In the wake of the #CAA that discriminates against Muslims in our country, this day underscores the need to foster harmony and compassion to unite people against all forms of bigotry.”
The CPI(M) also sought to exploit the Muslim community’s “tangible anxiety” about the growing trickle of defections from the Congress to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Mr. Govindan said an editorial in mouthpiece of the Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama, a Sunni organisation, had expressed “deep fear” at the “overnight” desertion of those who inherited the secular and democratic legacy of Jawaharlal Nehru to the fascist Sangh Parivar.