The committee to select a new chief election commissioner (CEC) met on Monday despite the Congress favouring a postponement of the meeting until Wednesday’s Supreme Court decision on the panel’s constitution.

The committee’s current members are Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah and leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi who, Congress sources said, dissented.

Late on Monday night, election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar was named the new CEC. His term starts on Wednesday and will end before the 2029 Lok Sabha polls. Haryana chief secretary Vivek Joshi has been appointed election commissioner.

Before joining the EC on the eve of the Lok Sabha polls, Kumar retired as Union cooperation secretary. A Kerala-cadre IAS officer, Kumar was a joint secretary in the Jammu and Kashmir division of the home ministry when the state’s special status was scrapped. He was later the additional secretary of the desk that handled the outcome of the Supreme Court’s Ayodhya verdict and the formation of a trust to build the Ram temple.

CEC Rajiv Kumar retired on Monday.

The Congress wants the selection committee reconstituted with the Chief Justice of India (CJI) as a member, too. The apex court is now poised to give its verdict on pleas seeking the CJI’s inclusion, a measure expected to protect the panel from government dominance.

“The Congress party believes that when the SC has indicated that it will hear this case and pronounce a verdict on how this committee should be constituted on the 19th, today’s meeting should have been postponed,” party treasurer Ajay Maken said.

Until two years ago, the Prime Minister, home minister and the law minister picked the election commissioners. By convention, the senior-most commissioner was appointed CEC.

The apex court’s March 2023 judgment created a selection committee of the Prime Minister, leader of the Lok Sabha Opposition and the CJI until the Centre passed a law on the subject.

The new law replaced the CJI with a cabinet minister nominated by the Prime Minister, giving the government a majority onthe panel.

After the committee meeting, Congress MP Abhishek Singhvi told reporters that the Centre wanted to ensure “a committee that will only allow the appointment of such candidates that will never threaten its existence”.

In his farewell speech, Rajiv Kumar said: “…Political parties must take accountability for their star campaigners’ rhetoric and strive for constructive,issue-based debates.”

“The rising trend of misleading narratives during peak polling or counting hours is a deliberate attempt to distort facts and mislead voters. Casting doubt on outcomes after active and full participation in the processis undesirable….”