New Delhi, March 14: Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led three-member committee on Thursday picked bureaucrats Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu as election commissioners. Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury shared this information with the media after the meeting.

The decision comes days after the resignation of Election Commissioner Arun Goel ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. PM Narendra Modi-Led Panel to Meet Today to Pick Two Election Commissioners: Reports.

The selection panel, which zeroed in on Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Gyanesh Kumar, includes the Prime Minister, the leader of the Opposition, and a designated Union Cabinet minister. Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is on the three-member panel in capacity as the opposition member. Arun Goel Resigns: Election Commissioner Resigns Ahead of Lok Sabha Elections 2024.

Besides the Prime Minister and the Congress leader, Union Home Minister Amit Shah attended the meeting. The Congress leader, however, hit out at the Centre over the law that replaced the Chief Justice of India by a Union Minister on the selection committee.

"The Chief Justice of India should have been on this committee," he said. The Congress leader also said that the law brought last year had reduced the meeting to a mere "formality".

"The government is in the majority on the panel. What they want happens," said Chowdhury.

The Congress leader said he was given 212 names for scrutiny last night. "I reached Delhi last night and the meeting was today at noon. I was given 212 names, how can someone examine so many candidates in a day? Then, I was given six shortlisted names before the meeting. The majority is with them, so they chose the candidates they wanted," he said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 14, 2024 02:40 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).