‘Apparent differences’ with Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar led to Arun Goel’s resignation

After the resignation of Election Commissioner (EC) Arun Goel insiders point out apparent differences emerged between the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar and the EC during their West Bengal visit to oversee the preparations for the parliamentary elections. 

The sudden and unexpected resignation of Election Commissioner (EC) Arun Goel barely a week before the announcement of the Lok Sabha election came as a surprise to many, but insiders in the poll body have pointed out that apparent differences emerged between the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar and the EC during their West Bengal visit to oversee the preparations for the parliamentary elections. 

According to well-placed sources, Mr. Goel refused to attend the press conference in Kolkata to brief the media about the preparations in West Bengal, which has the third largest number of parliamentary seats (42 seats) after Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, after he reportedly differed with Mr. Kumar who addressed the media alone on March 5. 

In the press briefing, the CEC did mention that Mr. Goel had returned to Delhi due to “health concerns”. However, sources close to Mr. Goel have dismissed that and maintained “he is in the pink of health”. 

“He flew back to Delhi cutting short his visit in West Bengal owing to some serious differences,” the sources maintained. 

However, it is not known and sources also did not elaborate further about what transpired between the two officials and their differences and exactly on which issues they differed. Mr. Goel had tenure till November 2027 and he would have become the CEC next year. 

In Delhi, he attended the Lok Sabha election related meetings with Mr. Kumar at the Election Commission of India (ECI) headquarters on March 7. 

However on March 8, he reportedly skipped attending a meeting between ECI brass and Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla regarding the election preparations and instead sent his resignation to the President of India without informing the CEC.