Arun Goel
By Rakesh Ranjan*New Delhi: At a time when the countdown for the General Elections has already begun, Election Commissioner Arun Goel (Retired IAS: 1985) abruptly resigned from his post today. The news of his resignation was announced by the Union Ministry of Law and Justice.
Already the Election Commission of India (ECI) had a pre-existing vacant position of one Election Commissioner. After the resignation of Goel, the ECI is left only with the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Rajiv Kumar (Retired IAS: 1984:).
Goel’s resignation right ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha Polls captures the imagination of the nation. It appears a clear signal of announcement of the appointment of two more Election Commissioners before the General Elections are notified which is expected next week.
Sources say that the mishandling of the Electoral Bond case in the Supreme Court is responsible for his exit. However, there is another version of his resignation doing rounds too. Grapevine is that it has something to do with election preparations. Whatever the reason is, Arun Goel’s appointment and exit both were newsmakers and surprising. His appointment process took place in 24 hours and his resignation was also accepted at similar times by the President of India.
Goel’s abrupt resignation is also a reminder of the circumstances that led to the sudden resignation of Ashok Lavasa (Retired IAS: 1980) in August 2020. Lavasa resigned on August 18, 2020, which came into effect 13 days later (i.e. 31.08.2020). He was given an honourable exit to the Asian Development Bank. But in Goel’s case, it is effective from the same day i.e. March 9, 20204.
*Editor-in-Chief of indianmandarins.com and CEO of New Media Network
