The resignation of Election Commissioner Arun Goel on the threshold of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, ostensibly on account of differences with the Chief Election Commissioner has renewed questions about the independence of the constitutional body with whom vests the superintendence, direction and control of elections. Election Commissioner Arun Goel, who was appointed only in November 2022 and was to have a tenure that would last until December 2027, resigned abruptly late last week and his resignation was promptly accepted by the President of India Droupadi Murmu.
Goel's exit leaves the three-member Election Commission of India with only one member for the present -- the Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar -- until the two vacant posts are filled.
Assuming the posts are filled as early as next week, it will mean that the country will be heading into its most crucial election with an Election Commission that includes two fresh new faces appointed by the government that is itself one of the crucial players in the election. For the sake of an analogy, it is as if one of two football teams gets to make appointments to the team of referees that will officiate the match.
It was this conflict of interest that prompted the Supreme Court of India to step in and order that the Chief Justice of India have a say in the committee that makes appointments to the Election Commission and not give the government of the day a free pass to appoint its favourite men to the job. However, the Union government changed the law to overturn and negate the verdict of the Supreme Court to ensure that it retains complete control of appointments to the Election Commission.
The Election Commissioner Goel’s resignation has already raised questions concerning the source of the differences that appeared to have cropped up within members of the Commission, as evidenced by the fact that after the Commission visited Bengal -- a crucial state in the context of the overall battle for Parliament, Goel headed back to Delhi and refused to jointly address the media with the Chief Commissioner.
Speculation is rife that political interference in the election process was the cause of the differences between the two. Similar questions were raised at the time of the resignation of Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa back in 2020. Lavasa, who was seen as being an upright man, too resigned in circumstances that raised more questions than they answered.
In an increasingly fraught situation the country is facing, at a time when institutions are seen as having lost their independence it is important that at least those tasked with ensuring a free and fair election remain free and fair themselves not just on paper but also in letter and spirit. Over the years, we have seen questions being raised about the partisan functioning of the Election Commission and selectively ignoring poll-related violations.
At this crucial juncture, the independent institutions of the country must rise up and stand up for themselves and the people of India in the true spirit that our founding fathers envisaged for the country.
