'LoP not rubber stamp': Rahul Gandhi submits dissent note on CBI chief's selection

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday submitted a dissent note objecting to the process adopted for choosing a new CBI Director at the Selection Committee meeting here, saying he is “not a rubber stamp” that he participates in a “biased exercise” after he is “denied any meaningful role”.

Rahul said he was denied the self-appraisal reports or 360-degree reports of the eligible candidates in advance and was given details of 69 candidates when Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Selection Committee met to choose the successor of incumbent Praveen Sood, who is on a one-year extension, from 69 candidates. Chief Justice Suryakant is the third member of the panel.

“By denying the Selection Committee crucial information, the government has reduced it to a mere formality. The Leader of Opposition is not a rubber stamp. I cannot abdicate my constitutional duty by participating in this biased exercise,” he said.

There was no official word on the choice of the panel, though reports suggested that CRPF Director General GP Singh and ITBP Director General Shatrujit Singh Kapoor were among the front runners for the post.

In his dissent note, Rahul said the Modi government has “repeatedly misused” the CBI, intended to be India's premier investigative agency, to “target political opponents, journalists, and critics”.

He said it was to prevent such institutional capture that the Leader of Opposition is included in the Selection Committee. "Regrettably, you have continued to deny me any meaningful role in the process," he said.

Despite repeated written requests, Rahul said he was not provided with the self-appraisal reports or 360-degree reports of the eligible candidates.

"Instead, I was expected to examine the appraisal records of 69 candidates for the first time during the Committee meeting. The 360-degree reports were denied to me outright," he said.

A detailed review of these records is crucial to assess each candidate's history and performance and this "deliberate denial of information, without any legal basis, makes a mockery" of the selection process and ensures that only Modi's "pre-decided candidate is selected", he said.

"I remind you that I had recorded my dissent in the previous meeting on May 5, 2025. I had also written to you on October 21, 2025, suggesting measures for a fair and transparent process, to which I have not even received a response," he said.