India’s opposition slams gov’t as top election official quits ahead of vote

Arun Goel’s resignation leaves the poll body with only one of three mandated officials to conduct the election, due by May.

India’s main opposition party has accused the government of “systematic decimation of independent institutions” after the second-highest election commission official resigned days ahead of the expected announcement of the date of the general election.

Arun Goel’s resignation as election commissioner on Saturday leaves the Election Commission of India (ECI) with only one of its three mandated top officials in their posts to conduct the world’s largest election with more than 960 million registered voters.

The Ministry of Law and Justice said in a gazette notification that President Droupadi Murmu had accepted Goel’s resignation, without citing a reason for his departure.

Goel, who took over as election commissioner in November 2022, has not yet made a public statement on his resignation. An election commission spokesman said he did not know why Goel had stepped down.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a rare third straight term in office in the general election, due by May.

The main opposition Congress party said Goel’s resignation was a concern and demanded answers from Modi’s government.

“Election Commission or Election OMISSION? India now has only one Election Commissioner, even as [general] elections are to be announced in a few days. Why? As I have said earlier, if we do not stop the systematic decimation of our independent institutions, our democracy shall be usurped by dictatorship,” Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge posted on X.

“Since the new process of selecting the Election Commissioners has now effectively given all the power to the ruling party and the PM, why has the new