Election Commissioner Arun Goyal resigns from his post due to 'personal reasons' - sources

In a surprising development barely a few weeks before the Lok Sabha Elections 2024, Election Commissioner Arun Goel has resigned from his post. This resignation of Arun Goyal came just before the announcement of general election dates. Therefore, the discussion regarding this also intensified and all kinds of speculations started being made from the corridors of politics to the general public.

But now news is coming from sources that Arun Goyal has resigned from his post due to personal reasons. Before this, speculations were also being made that Arun Goyal's health was not good and he had left the post due to health reasons.

Sources said that the dates for the Lok Sabha elections could be announced next week. In such a situation, now it has to be seen whether the deadline is affected by Goyal's resignation or not. Goyal's tenure was till December 2027. According to the Law Ministry's notification, Goyal's resignation was accepted by President Draupadi Murmu on Saturday, which became effective from today itself.

At present it is not known why Goyal resigned. After the retirement of Anoop Pandey and resignation of Goyal in February, there is now only Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar in the three-member Election Commission committee. Retired bureaucrat Arun Goyal was a 1985 batch IAS officer of Punjab cadre. He joined the Election Commission in November 2022.

Goyal's appointment to the Election Commission was challenged in the Supreme Court. In the PIL filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), it was said that the appointment of Arun Goyal is not according to the law. Besides, this is also a violation of the institutional autonomy of the Election Commission. Apart from this, there is a violation of Articles 14 and 324(2) of the Constitution as well as the Election Commission (Functioning and Executive Powers of Commissioners) Act 1991.