With the appointment of 62-year-old Anup Chandra Pandey as the new election commissioner (EC) on Tuesday, the constitutional body – which oversees all general and state elections in India – will have a new look.
It will be manned entirely by north Indians, with at least two ECs hailing from the adjoining districts in Uttar Pradesh (UP). This is unprecedented and puts in place an entirely new-look Election Commission of India (ECI).
Pandey, a retired 1984 batch UP cadre Indian Administrative Service officer, was brought back from retirement to be given the position. While in service, he had the distinction of getting a six-month extension as chief secretary ahead of his retirement in 2019. His papers for extension were processed within 24 hours by the Centre, which dithered for nearly a month over the state government’s recommendation appointing O P Singh as director general of police.
While in service, Pandey hand-held the chief minister from the start, creating a rapport especially in Yogi Adityanath’s resolve to clear UP of criminals via encounters and giving the police a free run.
Pandey has been given the credit of organising the Kumbh Mela and the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas during his stint as the top bureaucrat in the state.
In the ECI, the Centre has stuck to the tradition established since 2015 (the National Democratic Alliance government came to power in 2014) of giving ECs a tenure of around two and a half years on average. Before this, ECs usually served a full five-year term. They benefited from conducting elections of many shapes and sizes, adding to the ECI’s collective experience.
“Till 2015, by and large, every EC got the time to become the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC),” said a former EC.
“After the retirement of P L Brahma, ECs have had relatively shorter tenures,” he added.
The ECI has had seven new ECs in less than six years.
In terms of conducting elections, Pandey’s task will not be very onerous. The UP Assembly elections will be the most challenging event. After that, elections are due to a clutch of smaller states – Goa, Gujarat, and Punjab, some northeastern states and Karnataka. His term will end in February 2024, ahead of the general elections.
But the geographical composition of the ECI could give rise to concern. Current CEC Sushil Chandra belongs to Chandausi and the other EC, Rajiv Kumar, is from Amroha, practically neighbouring districts in UP.
Pandey has spent more than three decades of his working life in UP. Unlike the past when G V G Krishnamurthy, J M Lyngdoh, R Peri Sastry, H S Brahma, and V S Sampath held positions in ECI representing all corners of India, this ECI will be North India-centric.
Dear Reader,
Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.
We, however, have a request.
As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.
Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.
Digital Editor
Source link