New Delhi: The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led high-level committee Thursday picked retired IAS officers Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu as the Election Commissioners.
However, senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the Opposition member in the panel, registered his dissent, questioning the process followed, saying the short-listed names of officers were not made available to him in advance. Chowdhury said he had asked for a short list before the meeting which could have given him details of all the shortlisted candidates. He said the Government had sent the names of 212 officers Wednesday.
Sources said the Government had sent Chowdhury five lists containing 236 names.
The exhaustive list included the names of 92 officers who retired as Secretary and Secretary equivalent in Government of India, 93 names of officers serving as Secretary and Secretary equivalent officers in Government of India, 15 officers who retired as Chief Secretaries of state and union territories in last one year, 28 and 8 officers serving as chief secretaries in states and union territories.
