Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said it is “disrespectful and discourteous” for the prime minister and the home minister to have made a midnight decision to select the new CEC when the process of selection is being challenged in the Supreme Court. The government late on Monday night appointed Gyanesh Kumar as the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), hours after the meeting of the prime minister-led selection committee in which the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha asked the government to defer the meeting in view of the Supreme Court hearing in the matter.

While Kumar is new CEC, IAS officer Vivek Joshi has been appointed as the election commissioner. Gandhi also presented a dissent note to the panel, of which Home Minister Amit Shah is also a member. In a post on X, Gandhi said, “During the meeting of the committee to select the next Election Commissioner, I presented a dissent note to the PM and HM, that stated: The most fundamental aspect of an independent Election Commission free from executive interference is the process of choosing the Election Commissioner and Chief Election Commissioner”.