New Delhi: The selection committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi which met here this evening is learnt to have recommended the name of the next chief election commissioner to President Droupadi Murmu, sources said on Monday.
Besides Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi are part of the panel which met here. Sources in the government told news agency PTI that the notification announcing the name of the next CEC could be issued "in the next few hours".
The incumbent Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar will retire on February 18. Meanwhile, the Congress on Monday asked the government to adjourn the meeting to select the new Chief Election Commissioner until the Supreme Court hears on February 19 a petition on the constitution of the selection panel. The Congress' statement came soon after a meeting of the three-member selection committee.
What Is The Selection Process
This is for the first time that a CEC is being selected under the provisions of the new law — Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023, which came into force in December 2023. Notably, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Gyanesh Kumar were appointed as Election Commissioners under this provision in March 2024.
As far as the appointment of CEC is concerned, the new law has replaced the previous system of elevating the senior-most Election Commissioner. Instead, the selection panel now makes its decision based on a majority or consensus vote, finalising from among the candidates shortlisted by a search committee.
As per sources, after Rajiv Kumar, Gyanesh Kumar is the senior-most Election Commissioner. His tenure is till January 26, 2029. However, it remains to be seen whether the selection committee elevates one of the incumbent election commissioners or appoints a new CEC from outside the current roster of ECs.
If the panel opts for the second option, then the new CEC will oversee the 2029 Lok Sabha elections, along with assembly elections in Bihar scheduled this year, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry polls in 2026, and and Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh elections in 2027.
According to the revised law, the Chief Election Commission and other Election Commissioners must have held a post equivalent to the rank of secretary to the Government of India and should be person of integrity with knowledge of and experience in management and conduct of elections. In other words, serving and retired secretary-level officials are eligible for consideration as the CEC and ECs.
