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| - A fake document claiming a gazetted circular has been issued by the government of India, announcing the appointment of Dr Rajesh Kumar Gupta and Priyansh Sharma as the new election commissioners is viral. BOOM found that the two new election commissioners appointed on March 14, 2024 are Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu.
Following the resignation of Election Commissioner (EC) Arun Goel on March 9, 2024, two vacancies were created in the three-member panel of Election Commissioners, which includes one Chief Election Commissioner and two ECs.
Another EC, Anup Chandra Pandey, retired in February this year. The new ECs were to be appointed under the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service, and Terms of Office) Act, 2023, that was brought in by the parliament in August 2023. This new act removes the Chief Justice of India from the selection committee that appoints the ECs and CEC, a move that drew backlash from the opposition since it gives two-thirds voting majority to the government.
The fake circular announced the appointment of two ECs, retired IAS Dr Rajesh Kumar Gupta and retired IAS Priyansh Sharma to the Election Commission of India. The notice was on a letterhead of the Gazette of India and is dated March 13, 2024.
The circular is being shared on Facebook with the caption, "Hope these new election commissioners deliver honesty duty… Two Election Commissioners appointed -Dr. Rajesh Kumar Gupta (retd. IAS), Priyansh Sharma (retd. IAS). Why we need retired rotten old junks? Are we lacking serving IAS candidates?"
Click here to view the post.
A caption on X reads, "Two Election Commissioners appointed - Dr. Rajesh Kumar Gupta (retd IAS), Priyansh Sharma (retd IAS) #ElectionCommission"
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
FACT CHECK
BOOM found that the claims are false and the two new election commissioners appointed are retired IAS officers Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Gyanesh Kumar.
We ran a keyword search with the names of the IAS officers mentioned in the circular and did not find any results about their appointment as ECs.
However, we did find a video statement by Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha and member of the selection committee to appoint the ECs.
Speaking to the media, Chowdhury informed that former IAS officers Sukhbir Sandhu and Gyanesh Kumar were selected as the ECs from the six names recommended to the selection committee. The statement was shared by the X handle of The Times of India on March 14, 2024.
Click here for an archive.
Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Gyanesh Kumar are retired IAS officers, from Uttarakhand and Kerala respectively.
We also looked for any circular similar to the viral one issued on the website of the Gazette of India but did not find any results.
Further, we found a clarification issued by the fact-checking wing of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) on X that refuted the viral claims and called the circular fake.
The post by PIB was shared on March 13, 2024 with the caption, "A notification regarding the appointment of two Election Commissioners to the Election Commission of India is circulating on social media. #PIBFactCheck This notification is #fake No such Gazette notification has been issued."
Click here for an archive.
Speaking to NDTV, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the only opposition member on the panel, said that he was sent a list of 212 potential candidates on March 13. "I had asked for a shortlist so that I can examine the candidates. But I did not get that opportunity," he said while speaking about how the Chief Justice of India should have been a part of the selection committee. He further said that he was given a list of six shortlisted candidates 10 minutes before the meeting. "The majority is with them (the government), so they chose the candidates they wanted. What can I say?" he added.
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