EC appointments: Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury seeks 'dossiers' on shortlisted candidates ahead of selection meet

New Delhi: The high level selection committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet on Thursday noon to choose two Election Commissioners amid a request by panel member Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury to provide him "dossiers" on shortlisted candidates.

Chowdhury, who is part of the three-member panel in the capacity as the leader of the largest Opposition party in the Lok Sabha, has written to Legislative Department Secretary Rajiv Mani asking him to send him details of shortlisted candidates for the post of Election Commissioners along with their bio-data.

He has also asked the Ministry of Law to follow the procedure for appointment of other top officials, including CIC and Information Commissioners, besides the procedure for appointing the Central Vigilance Commissioner.

At earlier occasions, Chowdhury had expressed his opposition to the government not providing the details of shortlisted candidates in advance.

"I would request you to make available the 'dossier' containing bio-data of shortlisted candidates for the post of Election Commissioners before the meeting," sources quoted Chowdhury as saying in his letter.

The Election Commission has two vacancies as Arun Goel resigned last week in a surprise move and due to retirement of Anup Chandra Pandey last month.

Meanwhile, the Congress on Wednesday said that the Election Commission had refused to meet the I.N.D.I.A. bloc parties on the issue of the use of 100 per cent VVPAT slips and alleged that the constitutional body's independence has been "severely eroded" since the Narendra Modi-led government assumed power in 2014.

Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said, "The ECI has refused to meet I.N.D.I.A. parties on the issue of 100% VVPATs. It is a Constitutional body but its independence has been severely eroded since 2014. Its behaviour in Jammu is not surprising but is shocking nonetheless."

His comments came as a Congress leader claimed that NPP leader Harsh Dev Singh was detained for trying to submit a memorandum to the Election Commission in Jammu during the latter's visit.