Meet Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Gyanesh Kumar, the new election commissioners

Former bureaucrats Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Gyanesh Kumar have been selected as the new election commissioners by a panel chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The committee held a meeting to select the ECs as two positions fell vacant after the retirement of Anup Chandra Pandey in February and Arun Goel's resignation last week.

According to Congress leader Adhir Chowdhury who was on the panel, six names came up before the panel for the selection of two election commissioners. The names included - Utpal Kumar Singh, Pradeep Kumar Tripathi, Gyanesh Kumar, Indevar Pandey, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, and Sudhir Kumar Gangadhar Rahate.

Adhir said there was no clarity on how those six names were shortlisted from a list of over 200 candidates.

Who is Sukhbir Singh Sandhu?

Born in 1963, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu is a 1998-batch retired IAS officer. He served as the chief secretary of Uttarakhand. Earlier, Sandhu also served as the additional secretary, department of higher education, ministry of human resource development, and the chairman of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

Sandhu did his MBBS from Government Medical College, Amritsar, and also has a Master's Degree in history from Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar. According to reports, he also holds a law degree.

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The former bureaucrat was conferred the President Medal in recognition of his services as Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana, Punjab. He also received the 2001 President of India Medal in recognition of services rendered during the Census of India.

Who is Gyanesh Kumar?

Gyanesh Kumar is a retired 1988-batch Kerala cadre IAS officer. According to reports, he served as a secretary in the ministry of cooperation led by Amit Shah. Earlier, he served as the secretary at the ministry of parliamentary affairs.