New system of picking election commissioners shows PM has final word, says Sharad Pawar

Pune: NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday said the new system of picking election commissioners shows their selection is done as decided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Former bureaucrats Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Gyanesh Kumar were on Thursday named as the new election commissioners by a panel chaired by PM Modi.

The selection panel is chaired by the prime minister and has as members one Union minister as nominated by the government and the leader of the largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha.

Addressing a press conference, Pawar said, “Earlier, one Supreme Court judge along with two Union ministers were part of the process to select election commissioners. However, some changes were made in the selection process recently and they removed the Supreme Court judge from the process.”

“As per the new system, two (Union) ministers and the Leader of Opposition have been given the right to select the election commissioners. It means only those (candidates) will be appointed as decided by Modi ji. With this new system, the appointments will be done as per their wish,” he said.