Sukhbir Singh, Gyanesh Kumar new poll officers

Bureaucrats Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Gyanesh Kumar have been selected to fill two vacant positions on the top panel of the Election Commission of India, according to Congress's leader in Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who informed the media this afternoon.

Mr Chowdhury was a panel member, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, tasked with selecting two Election Commissioners who will assist Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar as the poll body prepares for the upcoming Lok Sabha election. In addition to the Prime Minister and Mr Chowdhury, Union Home Minister Amit Shah was also present at the meeting.

The Congress party leader has criticized the Indian government over a law that replaced the Chief Justice of India with a Union Minister on the selection committee. According to the Congress leader, the Chief Justice of India should have been included in the committee, and the law introduced last year has reduced the meeting to a mere formality. The leader further stated that the government holds the majority on the panel and can push their agenda.

Mr Sandhu and Mr Kumar are retired IAS officers from the 1988 batch. Mr Sandhu is from the Uttarakhand cadre of IAS while Mr Kumar is from the Kerala cadre. It is worth noting that the two appointments were made just a day before the Supreme Court hears petitions that challenge the selection process.