Election Commissioner Arun Goel resigns ahead of LS polls

Just weeks ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Election Commissioner Arun Goel has suddenly resigned, leaving the poll body with only Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar at the helm, unless the Centre appoints two new election commissioners this week...

Goel's resignation that has come three years before his term was to complete in 2027, is a significant development that also puts the poll panel's internal dynamics in the spotlight ahead of yet another general election, just like in 2019...

More so, given that Goel was actively participating in all the poll-related meetings right until Saturday, touring states and holding briefings with ECI officials..

The news of his resignation came with a late evening gazette notification issued by the law ministry which said that the "President is pleased to accept the resignation tendered by Sh Arun Goel, Election Commissioner with effect from 09th March 2024"..

The last time an Election Commissioner resigned mid-term was in August 2020 when Ashok Lavasa left and took up an assignment in the Asian Development Bank instead, after the highly reported "dissent" with the rest of the commission on decisions taken during the conduct of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls..

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