Who’s Arun Goel, the Election Commissioner who quit ahead of LS polls?
A 1985-batch IAS officer of the Punjab cadre, Goel had sparked a row in 2022 when he was appointed as the Election Commissioner a day after he took voluntary retirement from civil services
In a surprising turn of events, Arun Goel, one of Election Commissioners on Saturday (March 9) stepped down from the post, barely days ahead of the announcement of dates for the Lok Sabha Polls.
According to a law ministry notification, Goel's resignation has been accepted by President Droupadi Murmu with effect from Saturday. It was not immediately known why he stepped down, but the bureaucrat is said to have cited “personal reasons” behind the stepdown.
Goel, whose term was supposed to extend till 2027, was next in line to be Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) when current CEC Rajiv Kumar demits office next year. However, his premature exit has left CEC Kumar as the sole member of the Election Commission (EC) as the other election commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey already retired in February.
Here’s a look at Goel’s career:
Career as a bureaucrat
Goel, a retired bureaucrat, was a 1985-batch IAS officer of the Punjab cadre.
Born on December 7, 1962 in Patiala, Punjab, Goel is an MSc degree holder in Mathematics from Panjab University. He was awarded the ‘Chancellors Medal of Excellence’ of being First Class First.
He did his post-graduation in Development Economics from Churchill College, University of Cambridge, England. He has also been trained at the John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA.
Goel, who worked as a civil servant for more than 37 years, was superannuated as secretary at the Union Ministry of Heavy Industry. He is known to have been instrumental in taking forward the e-vehicle movement during his tenure as secretary, and successfully implementing the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Schemes, which fetched the government an investment of ₹67,690 crore against a target of ₹42,500 crore.
He has supervised poll operations for the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections during his tenure as District Election Officer of Ludiana (1995-2000) and Bathinda (1993-94) districts of Punjab.
He also served as the Vice Chairman of the Delhi Development Authority, the Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor at the Ministry of Labour and Employment and Joint Secretary in the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance.
As Election Commissioner
Goel joined the EC in November 2022. His entry was mired in controversy as he had taken a voluntary retirement from his service as Secretary at the Union Ministry of Heavy Industry, on November 18, just a day ahead of being appointed as the election commissioner.
Even though his appointment was challenged in the Supreme Court, it was given a clean chit on August 3, 2023.
His appointment came days before the Assembly elections in Gujarat.
While sudden Goel’s stepdown has raised questions on the conduct of a ‘free and fair’ elections, reports quoting sources close to the former election commissioner said he has cited personal reasons and that the government tried persuading him not to quit.
What next?
With Goel’s exit, both the posts of the election commissions lay vacant now.
As per the new legislation governing appointment of election commissioners, a search committed helmed by the Union law minister and comprising two secretaries will now be required to draw up a list of five possible candidates to be considered for the vacancies.
Then a selection committee – headed by the prime minister and comprising a Union cabinet minister to be nominated by the prime minister, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha or the leader of the single-largest opposition party in the House – would pick one name. The election commissioner will be appointed by the president.
