Hyderabad: TPCC senior vice-president G. Niranjan said that the resignation of Election Commissioner Arun Goel at a time when the Election Commission is expected to release the Lok Sabha election schedule had disrupted the functioning of the commission and election arrangements.
The Election Commission is left with just the Chief Election Commissioner, Niranjan, chairman of the TPCC Election Commission coordination committee said in a press meet at Gandhi Bhavan here on Sunday.
He said Goel had toured the country for the last six months to monitor election arrangements and his resignation at this time should be taken seriously. Action should be taken against him by the President, Niranjan said.
“His resignation is irresponsible. The personal reasons cited in his resignation letter are not more important than the interests of the country,” Niranjan said.
The Congress leader opined that the government should have filled up the vacancy caused by the retirement of Election Commissioner Anoop Pandey on February 14. Prime Minister Narendra Modi should take responsibility and apologise to the people for these unexpected developments in the Election Commission when the general elections are round the corner, he added.
Expressing apprehension that the newly appointed commissioners could be those who are at the beck and call of the ruling party, Niranjan said this was detrimental to democracy.
