Arun Goel opted for voluntary retirement last year and his appointment was announced a day later; electoral watchdog ADR has argued that the panel that appointed him was “deficient”
The newest of the three Election Commissioners of India, Arun Goel has once again found his appointment under the scanner. The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), an independent electoral watchdog, challenged his appointment before the Supreme Court on Monday.
Goel had a 37-year career in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). He was the Union heavy industries secretary when he opted for voluntary retirement on November 18. He was scheduled to retire on December 31. A day later, on November 19, President Droupadi Murmu appointed him Election Commissioner, filling a vacancy that had been there since May 15.
His appointment came at the time the SC was hearing petitions regarding the appointment procedures of the Election Commission of India (ECI). In a landmark ruling on March 3, the court said the three-member ECI would be chosen by a committee of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition or leader of the single-largest Opposition party in the Lok Sabha, and the Chief Justice of India till Parliament enacts a law on the matter.
ADR’s petition argues that the panel that appointed Goel was “deficient” and other potential candidates were left out. The watchdog has said Goel had “remarkable foresight” in requesting voluntary retirement on personal grounds and the Punjab government, whose cadre he belonged to, accepted the request within a day and waived the requirement of providing three months of notice in advance. As per the petition, the government said Goel was chosen out of a panel of four names as he was the youngest, adding that he would have the longest tenure as Commissioner. Both Goel and the polling body did not respond to The Indian Express’s requests for comments when contacted via email.
A 1985-batch IAS officer from the Punjab cadre, Goel was involved with the e-vehicle policy and production-linked incentive scheme for the auto industry during his tenure as heavy industries secretary. He was on Central deputation since 2011, serving in the Urban Development, Finance, Labour and Culture ministries.
His biography on the ECI website states: “As Secretary, Heavy Industries, he catalysed the e-vehicle movement in India to a tipping point. He implemented the PLI scheme for the auto industry in record time, getting investments worth Rs 67,690 crore against a target of Rs 42,500 crore and PLI for Advanced Chemistry Cell Battery Storage, getting manufacturing set up for 98GW against a target of 50GW.”
Earlier, in the Punjab government, he worked on the master plan of New Chandigarh and also contributed to the implementation of power reforms in the state. He was able to unbundle the electricity board into corporations and introduce an e-tendering system that helped the state exchequer increase savings to 25%, as per the EC website. He also conducted the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections during his postings in Ludhiana (1995-2000) and Bathinda (1993-94).
In his personal life, Goel “is an outdoor person and an avid traveller, fond of skydiving, scuba diving, white-water rafting and mountain zipping”, the EC said. He has a post-graduate degree in Development Economics from Churchill College at the University of Cambridge.
Since he became the Election Commissioner, Goel has been involved with the conduct of the Gujarat elections and the announcement of results of the Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat polls in December, and the planning for the Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland polls in February and the coming Karnataka Assembly elections. He was also on the panel that suggested using Remote Voting Machines to enable migrant voters to cast their votes. Most political parties opposed the idea.
When the ECI marked National Voters’ Day on January 25, Goel said representatives from developed countries were interested in learning from India, particularly seeing the usage of EVMs in such large numbers.