Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home minister Amit Shah gave the seal of approval to the appointment of Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu as Election Commissioners on Thursday, amidst a note of dissent by the only Opposition member in the three-member selection committee, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of the Congress.

“There is no way I could have taken an informed decision on who would be the two most suitable candidates. I had no way to find out about their qualification, experience and integrity (in that short time). I cannot accept this procedure,” Chowdhury said, drawing attention to the “procedural lacunae”.

The Congress leader said the government had already made up its mind on who the two replacements would be even before meeting was called.

“I had asked the law ministry (law minister Arjun Meghwal heads the select committee to draw a list of probable candidates). After I reached Delhi last night, I was handed a list 212 candidates,” said Chowdhury. “Am I magician that I would find out all about the 212 candidates in one night before the meeting?”

Chowdhury said on reaching for the meeting on Thursday, he was given a list of six names _ Utpal Kumar Singh, Pradeep Kumar Tripathi, Indivar Pandey and Sudhir Kumar Gangadhar Rahate, along with those of Kumar and Sandhu.

“If the Prime Minister and the Home minister are the two members from the government and I am the only Opposition voice, where is the balance? They will do as they please and that is what they have done,” said Chowdhury. “The same had happened when Goel was appointed. He was appointed with lightning speed and he left with lightning speed,” he added referring to Arun Goel who resigned abruptly on March 8.

Kumar, a 1988-batch Kerala cadre IAS officer retired as a secretary in the Union ministry of cooperation headed by Shah. He had headed the Jammu & Kashmir desk at the ministry of Home Affairs in 2019 under Shah when Article 370 was abrogated. He had also played a pivotal role in the setting up of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust when he was in the MHA.

The other Election Commissioner is a retired 1988-batch IAS officer and had served as chief secretary of the BJP-ruled state of Uttarakhand under chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami.

The Election Commission of India turned into a one-man show following the resignation of Arun Goel last week, while the government had dithered on filling the vacancy since Anup Chandra Pandey, another EC, stepped down.

Chowdhury, as the leader of the largest Opposition party, is the third member of the selection committee. The Narendra Modi government had amended the law in December last year and replaced the CJI of the Supreme Court with a Union minister as member, giving an advantage to the government.

The Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Congress leader Jaya Thakur have challenged the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023 which was passed in December by the Narendra Modi government. The new Act excludes the Chief Justice of India from the selection committee.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the matter on Friday.