Apex court agrees to hear petitions challenging validity of 2023 law for appointment of CEC, ECs

The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to consider granting an expedited hearing to a clutch of petitions challenging the validity of a 2023 law for the appointment of chief election commissioner (CEC) and election commissioners (ECs) — a day after Gyanesh Kumar was appointed as India's next CEC amid resistance by the Congress.

- Utkarsh Anand

NEW DELHI:

Kumar, a Kerala-cadre IAS officer from the 1988 batch who retired as the secretary of the ministry of cooperation before being appointed as an election commissioner last year, was appointed as the new CEC by President Droupadi Murmu on Monday night.

The announcement came hours after the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led selection committee proposed his name as the top poll official to replace outgoing CEC Rajiv Kumar. The selection, however, was not a smooth affair as leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, a member of the panel, objected to the timing of the meeting citing the pendency of the case in the top court.