EC Arun Goel resigns ahead of LS polls

New Delhi, NT Bureau: Election Commissioner Arun Goel resigned on Saturday, days before the expected announcement of the schedule for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

His tenure was till December 5, 2027, and he would have become Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) after incumbent Rajiv Kumar retired in February next year.

According to a law ministry notification, Goel's resignation has been accepted by President Droupadi Murmu with effect from Saturday. It was not immediately known why he stepped down.

He had joined the Election Commission in November 2022. Following the retirement of Anup Chandra Pandey in February and Goel's resignation, the three-member EC has now only one member: CEC Rajiv Kumar.

'Election Commission or Election OMISSION'

The Congress expressed "deep concern" over Goel's resignation and said that if the "systematic decimation" of independent institutions is not stopped then democracy shall be usurped by dictatorship.

"Election Commission or Election OMISSION? India now has only one Election Commissioner, even as Lok Sabha elections are to be announced in few days. Why?" Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said.