Newsmaker | Arun Goel quits as EC: Was picked days after took retirement, case went to SC

Election Commissioner Arun Goel on Saturdayresigned from the post, with the government announcing in a press release that President Droupadi Murmu had accepted it.

His resignation comes at a time when the Election Commission (EC) was travelling across the country to review poll preparations and the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections was expected to be announced in a few days. On Friday, the EC held meetings with top Union Home Ministry and Railway officials on the deployment and movement of security personnel across India for the parliamentary elections. With Goel’s resignation, the EC, which is a three-member body, is left with only Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar. There was already a vacancy in the EC after Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey retired last month.

Goel had a 37-year career in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) before he moved to the poll body. He was the Union heavy industries secretary when he opted for voluntary retirement on November 18, 2022. He was scheduled to retire on December 31 of that year. A day later, on November 19, President Murmu appointed him EC and he took charge on November 21.

But hisappointment was challenged in the Supreme Court by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), an independent electoral watchdog. The NGO, in its plea, alleged that Goel’s appointment was “arbitrary and violative of institutional integrity and independence of Election Commission”. His appointment came at the time the top court was hearing petitions regarding the appointment procedures of the Election Commission. In a landmark ruling on March 3, the court said the three-member EC would be chosen by a committee of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition or leader of the