A day later, questions persist over Arun Goel’s EC resignation
Hindustan TimesNEW DELHI A day after the Union law ministry announced election commissioner Arun Goel’s resignation, Election Commission officials were at a loss about what caused the move, with three years left on the officer’s tenure and elevation to the position of chief election commissioner due in 2025. A key point of difference was over the poll body’s February 17, 2023 order on the allocation of the Shiv Sena’s party name and poll symbol to the Eknath Shinde faction on the basis of legislative majority, four officials told HT. Read here: After Arun Goel's exit, Centre likely to appoint two new election commissioners by March 15 In a unanimous order, the poll body relied on the majority principle first used by the EC in the Sadiq Ali case of 1971 and upheld by the Supreme Court subsequently. Other points of difference, officials said, included Goel’s view that renovation of parts of the EC’s headquarters, the Nirvachan Sadan, were a waste of taxpayers’ money, and his discomfort over “VIP culture” in the poll body manifested in the “kingly” treatment given to EC officials during their tours to polling states.
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