By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 14 Mar: Retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Uttarakhand cadre, Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu has been selected as one of the two new election commissioners by the Committee chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The other person also selected as the new Election Commissioner is Gyanesh Kumar, a 1988 batch IAS officer of the Kerala Cadre. The appointments have been confirmed by the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary before the media, who has also accused the government of rushing through with the appointments. Official confirmation is also expected after the appointments are approved by President Droupadi Murmu.
Dr Sukhwinder Singh Sandhu hails from Punjab and is an IAS officer of the 1988 batch of Uttarakhand Cadre. Sandhu has been the Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand and Chairman of NHAI. Sandhu was appointed the Chief Secretary when Pushkar Singh Dhami became the Chief Minister in 2021. Dr Sandhu had, on 31 January this year, retired as Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand after continuing to serve in the post for an extended period. Following his retirement as Chief Secretary on 3 February this year, he was appointed with the Union Government as Secretary to the Lok Ayukta for a period of 5 years but now will be quitting that post after his selection as Election Commissioner.
It may be recalled that Sandhu had retired on 30 September, last year, as Chief Secretary to Government of Uttarakhand, but had been given extension for a period of six months till 31 January, 2024. He was born in 1963.
It may be noted that Sandhu has enjoyed the confidence of the Modi Government since his tenure began as the Chairman of the National Highways Authority of India.
Sandhu is not only a medical doctor by qualification but also has a law degree. He did his MBBS from Government Medical College, Amritsar, and also has a Master’s Degree in History from Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.
Sandhu has published papers on ‘Urban Reforms’ and ‘Municipal Management and Capacity Building’. He was conferred the President’s Medal in recognition of his services as Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana, Punjab. Sandhu also received the 2001 President of India Medal in recognition of services rendered during Census of India. Earlier, Sandhu had also served as the chairman of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and before that as additional secretary, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development.
On the other hand, Gyanesh Kumar is a 1988 batch IAS officer of Kerala cadre and has been posted in the Home Ministry. He was posted in the Home Ministry at the time of the decision on Article 370.
ItAfter the retirement of Election Commissioner Anoop Chandra Pandey, one post of the Election Commissioner had fallen vacant for which a notification to fill up had already been issued according to the Government. However, a second vacancy arose when the other Election Commissioner, Arun Goyal, resigned from the Commission citing personal reasons. With Parliamentary Elections to be announced and held anytime soon now, the Committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi met in New Delhi today and Dr Sandhu and Gyanesh Kumar were appointed.
After participating in the meeting, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Choudhary claimed before the media in New Delhi that 212 names were placed before him last night. He was asked to attend the meeting this morning and, therefore, he did not have time to gather enough information about the persons being considered. Choudhary further claimed that he had been invited for the sake of formality as a member of the committee. The government has a major say in the appointments as one of the members is a minister nominated by the Prime Minister.
The Supreme Court, which had itself dismissed a petition challenging the constitution of the Committee to select the Election Commissioner, has now accepted a petition filed by a Congress leader challenging the selection process of Election Commissioners. The case will be heard tomorrow.
