'To circumvent Supreme Court': Congress slams BJP over appointment of Gyanesh Kumar as poll body chief
PTC News Desk: Hours after the Centre released notification on the appointment of new Election Commissioner, Congress has raised objection while describing the it as hastily-taken decision and alleging that BJP-led government had an intent of circumventing the Supreme Court's scrutiny of the structure of the panel that recommended the officer's name.
Congress general secretary K C Venugopal said in a hasty midnight move, the government has notified the appointment of the new CEC. "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," Venugopal said in a post on X.
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.
"Their decision to hastily hold the meeting today and appoint the new EC shows they are keen to circumvent the Supreme Court's scrutiny and get the appointment done before a clear order kicks in," he said.
Venugopal further pointed out that such 'egregious behaviour' how the ruling regime is destroying the electoral process and bending the rules for its benefit.
"Be it fake voter lists, schedules favouring the BJP, or concerns around EVM hacking -- the government and the CECs it appoints are subject to deep suspicion because of such incidents," Venugopal said.
- PTC NEWS
