The second-highest official of India’s Election Commission resigned suddenly on Saturday, days before the date of the country’s general election was expected to be announced.
Arun Goel’s resignation as Election Commissioner leaves the Election Commission of India with only one of its three top officials in their posts to manage the world’s biggest election with more than 960 million registered voters.
The Ministry of Law and Justice said in a gazette notice that Indian President Droupadi Murmu had accepted Goel’s resignation without giving a reason for his departure.
Goel, who will take over as election commissioner in November 2022, did not immediately return calls from Reuters, and a commission spokesman said he did not know why Goel resigned.
Opinion polls had predicted an easy victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in elections due by May, which would have given him a rare third consecutive term in office.
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The Electoral Commission’s decisions are made by a majority vote of three commissioners, each with a term of six years or until age 65, according to its website.
Only Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar remains the election authority after Anup Chandra Pandey stepped down as commissioner last month and Goel’s resignation has raised concerns among several opposition parties.
“India now has only ONE Election Commissioner even though… elections are due in a few days. Why?” asked Mallikarjun Kharge, president of the main opposition Congress party, on social media platform X.
He said India must stop the “systematic decimation of our independent institutions”.
