Did Election Commissioner Arun Goel quit over differences with CEC or Govt, asks Opposition

NEW DELHI: A day after the sudden resignation of Election Commissioner Arun Goel, the Congress and other opposition parties on Sunday posed the question if he did so due to differences with the chief election commissioner or the Modi government.

“The resignation of Arun Goel as Election Commissioner last evening raises three questions,” Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said.

“Did he actually resign over differences with the Chief Election Commissioner or with the Modi government, which does the front-seat driving for all supposedly independent institutions? Or did he resign for personal reasons?

“Or did he, like the Calcutta High Court Judge a few days back, resign to contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls on a BJP ticket,” Ramesh said in a post on X.

The Congress leader said the Election Commission has for eight months now refused to meet with INDIA parties on the issue of the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) that is essential to prevent “electronic voting manipulation”.

“Each passing day in Modi’s India deals an added blow to democracy and democratic institutions,” he alleged.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said one has to wait to see what the former Election Commissioner does in the coming days.

“I was thinking that after the high court judge resigned and joined the BJP the next day and started abusing the TMC. It shows that the BJP has appointed people with such a mindset. “Now the election commissioner has resigned, let us wait for some time to see what he does,” he said.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut alleged the Election Commission has become an “extended branch of the BJP”.

It is not the same Election Commission that it was during TN Seshan’s time, which functioned as a watchdog over the elections and remained impartial, he claimed.

“In the last 10 years, the Election Commission has been privatised. It has become a branch of the BJP,” he alleged.

“Like BJP’s people have been appointed in high courts, Supreme Court, Governor’s house, in the same manner, they would appoint two of their BJP people here too,” Raut claimed.

AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi demanded answers from Goel and the government over the resignation just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

“It would be better if he (Arun Goel) himself or the government would tell the reason behind the resignation ahead of the Lok Sabha elections,” he said.

TMC leader Saket Gokhale asked, “Why did Election Commissioner Arun Goel abruptly resign last night just after cutting short his trip to Bengal with the ECI.”

“What explains this sudden mystery days before the elections? This is a part of the ‘chronology’ of Modi’s & BJP’s dirty tricks to steal votes in Bengal,” he alleged.

The “anti-Bengal outsider zamindars of the BJP are rattled” because Bengal has constantly rejected them, he claimed.

Gokhale alleged that the BJP “forced” Goel to “abruptly resign so that Modi and his one chosen minister get to appoint two out of three Election Commissioners days before Lok Sabha polls are announced”.

Independent MP Kapil Sibal said it was a worrying development.

“Way cleared to: Pack the Commission with Yes men. This applies to all institutions that are the foundations of our Republic!” he said on X.

“To abruptly resign like this at the cusp of the Lok Sabha elections is something we should be worried about, because normally this would not happen. Maybe the reasons cited by him that he has resigned for personal reasons are genuine. But, it is unlikely...,” Sibal said.

He alleged institutions in this country, including the Election Commission which is constitutionally obliged to ensure a free and fair elections, are being “slowly decimated”.

“And, it has been decimated over the years and in the last ten years they have captured almost all institutions in this country,” the former union minister said. “In the last 10 years, it looks like the Election Commission has become an extended arm of the government,” he alleged.

TMC MP Sagarika Ghose said, “Now on the eve of elections, an election commissioner - Arun Goel - has actually resigned. What message does this send about the world’s largest democracy?”.

Goel resigned on Saturday, days before the expected announcement of the schedule for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

His tenure was till December 5, 2027, and he was in line to become Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) after the retirement of incumbent Rajiv Kumar in February

next year. with agency inputs