The Evening Wrap: ‘Apparent differences’ with CEC behind Arun Goel’s resignation, say sources

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, 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 Goel had returned to Delhi due to “health concerns”. However, sources close to 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. 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 Rajiv Kumar at the Election Commission of India (ECI) headquarters on March 7 but 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. “There were attempts from the government to dissuade him and reconcile their differences but he remained firm on his exit,” officials in the government said. His resignation was accepted by the President on March 9 and the Ministry of Law and Justice issued a gazette notification stating that Mr. Goel’s resignation was accepted with effect from the same day. “Except perhaps the CEC and other highest ranking officials in the government, nobody even within the ECI had an inkling about the abrupt decision of resignation of Mr. Goel till the gazette notification was issued,” claimed multiple sources in the government and the ECI. The ECI consisting of three members, already had a vacant position when the tenure of Anup Chandra Pandey ended last month, and now, only the CEC remains on the poll panel. Lok Sabha election | Trinamool announces candidates for all 42 seats in West Bengal Putting an end to speculation over its pre-poll seat sharing with the Congress party, the Trinamool Congress on March 10 announced candidates for all the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal. The list of Trinamool Congress candidates had certain surprises, including former cricketers Yusuf Pathan from Berhampore and Kirti Azad from the Bardhaman Durgapur Lok Sabha seat. The party retained veteran MPs, including Sudip Banerjee from Kolkata and Saugata Roy from the Dum Dum Lok Sabha seat, and Kalyan Banerjee from Serampore. While the party dropped Nushrat Jahan from Basirhat — Sandeshkhali falls under this constituency — it has fielded popular Bengali actors Rachana Banerjee from Hooghly and June Maliah from Medinipur. Also, among those dropped is Barrackpore MP Arjun Singh, who won the 2019 elections on a BJP ticket but later returned to Trinamool. Shatrughan Sinha, who had won the by-election at Asansol in 2021, has been fielded again from Asansol. The party has also placed its faith in new faces, including youth leader Debangshu Bhattacharya from Tamluk, and IPS officer Prasun Banerjee, who resigned from service only days ago, from Malda North. Among women MPs, the Trinamool has renominated Mahua Moitra from Krishnanagar and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar from Barasat. Trinamool youth leader Sayani Ghosh has been fielded from Jadavpur, replacing Mimi Chakraborty, while Abhishek Banerjee will seek renomination from Diamond Harbour. Two BJP MLAs, Krishna Kaylani and Mukut Mani Adhikari, who had won on a BJP ticket in 2021 and later defected to Trinamool, have been given Lok Sabha tickets from Raiganj in north Bengal and Ranaghat in south Bengal, respectively. CM Mamata Banerjee introduced the Lok Sabha candidates at the party’s Jon Gorjan Sabha (People’s Roar Rally) at Kolkata’s Brigade Parade Ground. She said that the Trinamool Congress will field candidates in Assam and Meghalaya, and is also in talks with Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav for fielding a candidate in Uttar Pradesh. “The Indian National Congress has repeatedly declared its desire to have a respectable seat-sharing agreement with the TMC in West Bengal. The Indian National Congress has always maintained that such an agreement has to be finalised through negotiations and not by unilateral announcements. The Indian National Congress has always wanted the INDIA group to fight the BJP together,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said in reaction to the move. Reacting to the candidature of Yusuf Pathan from Baharampur, State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that it was an attempt to divide the Muslim votes in the constituency. Others make big promises, only BJP fulfils them: PM Modi Launching the Mahatari Vandan Yojana — a financial assistance scheme for eligible married women in Chhattisgarh — on March 10, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that it was only the BJP that has kept its electoral promises. “Mothers and sisters, before the elections, many parties make big promises. They promise the stars and the moon, but only a party with a clear intent like the BJP fulfills its promises. That is why in such a short span of time after the formation of the BJP government [in Chhattishgarh], the promise of the Mahatari Vandana Yojana has been fulfilled,” Modi said. The scheme was the BJP’s pre-poll promise in last year’s Assembly election campaign. Under the scheme, ₹1,000 per month is given to eligible married women in the State as a monthly direct benefit transfer. So far, there have been 70 lakh beneficiaries, and ₹655 crore was transferred on March 10, as the first payment instalment under the scheme. The PM – who addressed the beneficiaries gathered at the Raipur launch event via video conferencing from Varanasi – emphasised that a healthy family stems from the well-being of its women. He also said that women were getting pucca houses and Ujjwala gas cylinders in their name. Half of all Jan Dhan accounts are in the name of women, who have also availed 65% of the Mudra loans disbursed to fund small businesses being set up by the underprivileged. Lok Sabha polls | Chirag Paswan cautions BJP before seat-sharing announcement Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) president and Jamui Lok Sabha member Chirag Paswan on March 10 indirectly cautioned the BJP regarding seat sharing for the 2024 elections. Sensing of getting less seats in the alliance this time after the arrival of Janata Dal (United) in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Paswan asserted that he is not afraid of anyone and neither will bow down. Giving a strong message to the BJP, Paswan said his alliance was one and only with the people of Bihar. Without naming anyone, Paswan took a dig at the earlier government in the State alleging that the problems in Bihar still persist. He was addressing the Jan Ashirwad Mahasabha organised at Sahebganj High School ground of Vaishali district. Referring to the problem of migration, he claimed that the people are going out of State for better jobs and education. Highlighting the requirement in the State, Paswan said people want good education, good health infrastructure in their own State, district, block and village instead of going to other States. Paswan also alleged that some people are trying to divide the society on the basis of caste and religion. Through the rally, he indirectly staked claim to contest from the Hajipur seat which he has been demanding for long time and presently represented by his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras of the Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party. BJP, RSS have devious agenda of re-writing, destroying Constitution: Congress over BJP MPs remarks The Congress on March 10 accused the BJP and the RSS of having a “hidden and devious” agenda of “re-writing and destroying” the Constitution while claiming that its MP Anantkumar Hegde has said the party needs 400 seats to “change the Indian Constitution”. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi claimed the BJP MP’s reported remark was a public declaration of the “hidden intentions” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and their “Sangh Parivar”. Party chief Mallikarjun Kharge said the BJP MP’s statement “yet again exposes Modi-RSS” devious agenda to impose dictatorship”. “The Modi Government, BJP and RSS secretly desire to impose a dictatorship, whereby they will impose their ‘Manuvaadi mindset’ on the people of India and snatch away the rights of SCs, STs and OBCs,” he said in a post on X. He alleged that such repeated calls by the BJP-RSS, from time to time were a “direct assault” on the “unquestionable ethos of sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic espoused by our Constitution makers”. “Justice, Equality, and Liberty are the strong pillars of the Constitution and any change in these principles would be an insult to the India envisioned by Babasaheb Dr Ambedkar and our revered founders,” the Congress chief said. “It is the solemn responsibility of every Indian to protect our democracy and the Constitution,” he said. Rahul Gandhi alleged that the “ultimate goal of Narendra Modi and the BJP is to destroy Baba Saheb’s Constitution.” The former Congress chief said they would not let these “conspiracies” with the dreams of the heroes of India’s struggle for Independence succeed and would continue to fight for the democratic rights guaranteed by the Constitution till the last breath. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the BJP MP, a former Union Minister, and “Modi’s favourite” Anantkumar Hegde has only revealed what was already known. “The goal of the BJP and RSS is to overturn Babasaheb Ambedkar’a Constitution,” he alleged. Karnataka BJP MP Anant Kumar Hegde has reportedly said that the Indian constitution needs to be changed “to save our religion” and the only way BJP can do it is if the party can win over 400 Lok Sabha seats. In Brief India and the four-nation European bloc EFTA on March 10 signed a free trade agreement to promote investments and boost two-way trade in goods and services. The European Free Trade Association members are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. The agreement has 14 chapters, including trade in goods, rules of origin, intellectual property rights, trade in services, investment promotion and cooperation, government procurement, technical barriers to trade and trade facilitation. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 10 March 2024 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( ‘Apparent differences’ with Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar led to Arun Goel’s resignation 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, 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 Goel had returned to Delhi due to “health concerns”. However, sources close to 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. 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 Rajiv Kumar at the Election Commission of India (ECI) headquarters on March 7 but 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. “There were attempts from the government to dissuade him and reconcile their differences but he remained firm on his exit,” officials in the government said. His resignation was accepted by the President on March 9 and the Ministry of Law and Justice issued a gazette notification stating that Mr. Goel’s resignation was accepted with effect from the same day. “Except perhaps the CEC and other highest ranking officials in the government, nobody even within the ECI had an inkling about the abrupt decision of resignation of Mr. Goel till the gazette notification was issued,” claimed multiple sources in the government and the ECI. The ECI consisting of three members, already had a vacant position when the tenure of Anup Chandra Pandey ended last month, and now, only the CEC remains on the poll panel. Lok Sabha election | Trinamool announces candidates for all 42 seats in West Bengal [Putting an end to speculation over its pre-poll seat sharing with the Congress party, the Trinamool Congress on March 10 announced candidates for all the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal.]( The list of Trinamool Congress candidates had certain surprises, including former cricketers Yusuf Pathan from Berhampore and Kirti Azad from the Bardhaman Durgapur Lok Sabha seat. The party retained veteran MPs, including Sudip Banerjee from Kolkata and Saugata Roy from the Dum Dum Lok Sabha seat, and Kalyan Banerjee from Serampore. While the party dropped Nushrat Jahan from Basirhat — Sandeshkhali falls under this constituency — it has fielded popular Bengali actors Rachana Banerjee from Hooghly and June Maliah from Medinipur. Also, among those dropped is Barrackpore MP Arjun Singh, who won the 2019 elections on a BJP ticket but later returned to Trinamool. Shatrughan Sinha, who had won the by-election at Asansol in 2021, has been fielded again from Asansol. The party has also placed its faith in new faces, including youth leader Debangshu Bhattacharya from Tamluk, and IPS officer Prasun Banerjee, who resigned from service only days ago, from Malda North. Among women MPs, the Trinamool has renominated Mahua Moitra from Krishnanagar and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar from Barasat. Trinamool youth leader Sayani Ghosh has been fielded from Jadavpur, replacing Mimi Chakraborty, while Abhishek Banerjee will seek renomination from Diamond Harbour. Two BJP MLAs, Krishna Kaylani and Mukut Mani Adhikari, who had won on a BJP ticket in 2021 and later defected to Trinamool, have been given Lok Sabha tickets from Raiganj in north Bengal and Ranaghat in south Bengal, respectively. CM Mamata Banerjee introduced the Lok Sabha candidates at the party’s Jon Gorjan Sabha (People’s Roar Rally) at Kolkata’s Brigade Parade Ground. She said that the Trinamool Congress will field candidates in Assam and Meghalaya, and is also in talks with Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav for fielding a candidate in Uttar Pradesh. “The Indian National Congress has repeatedly declared its desire to have a respectable seat-sharing agreement with the TMC in West Bengal. The Indian National Congress has always maintained that such an agreement has to be finalised through negotiations and not by unilateral announcements. The Indian National Congress has always wanted the INDIA group to fight the BJP together,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said in reaction to the move. Reacting to the candidature of Yusuf Pathan from Baharampur, State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that it was an attempt to divide the Muslim votes in the constituency. Others make big promises, only BJP fulfils them: PM Modi Launching the Mahatari Vandan Yojana — a financial assistance scheme for eligible married women in Chhattisgarh — on March 10, [Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that it was only the BJP that has kept its electoral promises](. “Mothers and sisters, before the elections, many parties make big promises. They promise the stars and the moon, but only a party with a clear intent like the BJP fulfills its promises. That is why in such a short span of time after the formation of the BJP government [in Chhattishgarh], the promise of the Mahatari Vandana Yojana has been fulfilled,” Modi said. The scheme was the BJP’s pre-poll promise in last year’s Assembly election campaign. Under the scheme, ₹1,000 per month is given to eligible married women in the State as a monthly direct benefit transfer. So far, there have been 70 lakh beneficiaries, and ₹655 crore was transferred on March 10, as the first payment instalment under the scheme. The PM – who addressed the beneficiaries gathered at the Raipur launch event via video conferencing from Varanasi – emphasised that a healthy family stems from the well-being of its women. He also said that women were getting pucca houses and Ujjwala gas cylinders in their name. Half of all Jan Dhan accounts are in the name of women, who have also availed 65% of the Mudra loans disbursed to fund small businesses being set up by the underprivileged. Lok Sabha polls | Chirag Paswan cautions BJP before seat-sharing announcement [Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) president and Jamui Lok Sabha member Chirag Paswan on March 10 indirectly cautioned the BJP regarding seat sharing for the 2024 elections.]( Sensing of getting less seats in the alliance this time after the arrival of Janata Dal (United) in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Paswan asserted that he is not afraid of anyone and neither will bow down. Giving a strong message to the BJP, Paswan said his alliance was one and only with the people of Bihar. Without naming anyone, Paswan took a dig at the earlier government in the State alleging that the problems in Bihar still persist. He was addressing the Jan Ashirwad Mahasabha organised at Sahebganj High School ground of Vaishali district. Referring to the problem of migration, he claimed that the people are going out of State for better jobs and education. Highlighting the requirement in the State, Paswan said people want good education, good health infrastructure in their own State, district, block and village instead of going to other States. Paswan also alleged that some people are trying to divide the society on the basis of caste and religion. Through the rally, he indirectly staked claim to contest from the Hajipur seat which he has been demanding for long time and presently represented by his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras of the Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party. BJP, RSS have devious agenda of re-writing, destroying Constitution: Congress over BJP MPs remarks The [Congress on March 10 accused the BJP and the RSS of having a “hidden and devious” agenda of “re-writing and destroying” the Constitution]( while claiming that its MP Anantkumar Hegde has said the party needs 400 seats to “change the Indian Constitution”. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi claimed the BJP MP’s reported remark was a public declaration of the “hidden intentions” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and their “Sangh Parivar”. Party chief Mallikarjun Kharge said the BJP MP’s statement “yet again exposes Modi-RSS” devious agenda to impose dictatorship”. “The Modi Government, BJP and RSS secretly desire to impose a dictatorship, whereby they will impose their ‘Manuvaadi mindset’ on the people of India and snatch away the rights of SCs, STs and OBCs,” he said in a post on X. He alleged that such repeated calls by the BJP-RSS, from time to time were a “direct assault” on the “unquestionable ethos of sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic espoused by our Constitution makers”. “Justice, Equality, and Liberty are the strong pillars of the Constitution and any change in these principles would be an insult to the India envisioned by Babasaheb Dr Ambedkar and our revered founders,” the Congress chief said. “It is the solemn responsibility of every Indian to protect our democracy and the Constitution,” he said. Rahul Gandhi alleged that the “ultimate goal of Narendra Modi and the BJP is to destroy Baba Saheb’s Constitution.” The former Congress chief said they would not let these “conspiracies” with the dreams of the heroes of India’s struggle for Independence succeed and would continue to fight for the democratic rights guaranteed by the Constitution till the last breath. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the BJP MP, a former Union Minister, and “Modi’s favourite” Anantkumar Hegde has only revealed what was already known. “The goal of the BJP and RSS is to overturn Babasaheb Ambedkar’a Constitution,” he alleged. Karnataka BJP MP Anant Kumar Hegde has reportedly said that the Indian constitution needs to be changed “to save our religion” and the only way BJP can do it is if the party can win over 400 Lok Sabha seats. In Brief [India and the four-nation European bloc EFTA on March 10 signed a free trade agreement]( to promote investments and boost two-way trade in goods and services. The European Free Trade Association members are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. The agreement has 14 chapters, including trade in goods, rules of origin, intellectual property rights, trade in services, investment promotion and cooperation, government procurement, technical barriers to trade and trade facilitation. 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