A fake gazette notification goes viral regarding the appointment of Election Commissioners

Retired IAS officers Gyanesh Kumar and Dr. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu were appointed as Election Commissioners of India on 14 March 2024.

Election Commissioner Arun Goyal resigned on 9 March, 2024 just before the 2024 Lok Sabha election schedule was announced. Following his resignation, a document indicating that two new election commissioners had been appointed to the ECI went viral on social media.

The viral document states, Rajesh Kumar Gupta and Priyansh Sharma, two former IAS officers, have been appointed as India’s Election Commissioners. The Prime Minister of India, Union Home Minister, and Leader of the Opposition completed the above-mentioned appointments.

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Fact Check- 

At first, we searched the website of the Gazette of India for any circular that resembled the widely circulated one, but we were unable to find anything.

Next, we conducted a reverse image and keyword search on Google and the results led us to the tweet shared by PIB fact check on 13 March, 2024, with a caption: “A notification regarding the appointment of two Election Commissioners to the Election Commission of India is circulating on social media #PIBFactCheck,” This notification is #fake No such gazette notification has been issued.

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In further search, we found that Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury informed the media that former IAS officers Gyanesh Kumar from the Kerala cadre and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu from the Uttarakhand cadre were selected as election commissioners from the six names recommended to the selection committee. 

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The Election Commission of India shared a notification on 15 March 2024 and according to the information in it, Shri Gyanesh Kumar & Shri Sukhbir Singh Sandhu assumed charge as Election Commissioners. The ECI spokesperson also shared the same on their official Twitter handle.

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Conclusion- 

Fact Crescendo discovered that the notification regarding the appointment of new Election Commissioners is fabricated. The Government of India has not issued any such Gazette notification. Shri Gyanesh Kumar and Shri Sukhbir Singh Sandhu are the new Election Commissioners as per the latest notification.