New Delhi: Arun Goel, the 1985-batch Punjab cadre IAS officer whose resignation as Election Commissioner just before the general elections has triggered a buzz in political and bureaucratic circles, has had a “volatile equation” with his bosses across the political divide, be it former Union minister Kamal Nath or the Modi government, ThePrint has learnt.
While there is no clarity as yet over the reasons behind Goel’s sudden resignation, senior civil servants ThePrint spoke to said that it was common knowledge that Goel and Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar were “not the best of friends”.
However, they do maintain that this could hardly be the trigger for his sudden decision to step down.
“Goel is intelligent and reasonably mature. He would not have resigned unless the provocation was severe,” a serving Punjab cadre IAS officer told ThePrint, adding in the same breath: “Goel though has a reputation of falling in and out of favour with the political dispensation of the day.”
There is speculation that Goel’s resignation could be a culmination of differences with CEC Kumar over issues related to conduct of elections, but there is no official confirmation in this regard.
Goel had cut short his visit to Kolkata on 5 March to review poll preparations along with CEC Kumar and also skipped the Election Commission’s press briefing.
ThePrint reached both CEC Rajiv Kumar and Arun Goel via calls for comment but had not received a response by the time of publication. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.
Goel’s resignation, over two years before his the end of his tenure, has left the three-member Election Commission with just CEC Rajiv Kumar.
While government sources said a process has been initiated to fill the two vacancies in the top poll panel, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury — who is part of the PM Narendra Modi-led high-powered panel that oversees the appointment of election commissioners — told ThePrint Sunday that he had no information about the next meeting of the panel.
“I have not been told about any dates yet,” he said.
Goel’s resignation is the second such episode involving the election body to have come to light during Modi’s second term. In August 2020, the then election commissioner Ashok Lavasa had resigned two years before the end of his tenure.
Lavasa, who took over as election commissioner in 2018, joined the Philippines-based Asian Development Bank as vice-president a month after stepping down from the poll body.
He had made headlines in 2019, after he opposed the clean chit given to Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, for alleged violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) in the run-up to the general elections.
In September that year, Lavasa’s family members, including his wife, were served notices by the I-T department for alleged non-declaration of income and disproportionate assets.
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‘Very sharp but career marked by high volatility’
Serving and retired Punjab cadre IAS officers ThePrint spoke to said Goel is a very sharp officer but his career has been “characterised by high volatility”.
“If you see his career trajectory, there is a pattern. He manages to get along well with political dispensation of the day but then falls out of favour,” said a senior Punjab cadre IAS officer, who retired as chief secretary.
Citing an instance, he said when Goel decided to come to Delhi from Punjab, he was handpicked for handling the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, the UPA government’s flagship urban renewal scheme, in May 2011. “But a little over a year later, in June 2012, he was transferred out of the ministry. The buzz was that he fell out with the then Union urban development minister Kamal Nath and was shunted out.”
Goel, however, managed to get a posting in the Department of Revenue as joint secretary, Customs. He was there for three years and after Modi came to power in 2014, he once again managed to get the plum posting of vice-chairman, Delhi Development Authority (DDA), during M. Venkaiah Naidu’s tenure as minister for urban development.
“He (Goel) worked on the Delhi Master Plan. But his tenure again was short-lived, and he was transferred to the Union labour ministry as financial advisor. It was a joint secretary post, which was upgraded to additional secretary as Goel was empanelled as additional secretary by then,” said a senior civil servant serving in a central ministry.
Goel then spent a year-and-a-half in the labour ministry before getting transferred to the culture ministry as additional secretary.
“He became the culture secretary in August 2018. It is said that he became close to the so-called RSS cultural bigwigs during this time. It was during this time that the plan to renovate Jallianwala Bagh was firmed up,” said the retired Punjab cadre civil servant.
Goel’s next posting was as secretary, Ministry of Heavy Industries, in December 2019.
A postgraduate in Mathematics from Patiala’s Punjabi University, Goel took voluntary retirement from his last post as secretary, Ministry of Heavy Industries, a month before he was to retire in December 2022.
The very next day, the Modi government set the ball rolling and appointed him Election Commissioner. His appointment to the poll panel triggered a controversy in 2022, and it was challenged in the Supreme Court by the Association for Democratic Rights (ADR).
“The government went out of its way to expedite his appointment as Election Commissioner. That is why his sudden resignation from the election body is a kind of anti-climax,” remarked the retired Punjab cadre civil servant quoted earlier.
The former civil servant added that Goel’s career was marked by such highs and lows from the get-go.
“He was the blue-eyed boy of the Badals, when the SAD (Shiromani Akali Dal) government was in power. He was appointed as deputy commissioner, Ludhiana, considered to be a plum posting in 1998. But in 2002, when Congress’ Amarinder Singh became the CM, Goel was moved out and appointed joint secretary in the youth affairs and sports department, considered a low-profile posting. He maintained a low-profile during Amarinder Singh’s term in power,” said another former Punjab cadre IAS officer.
‘Goel’s sudden resignation raises 3 questions’
The Opposition, including the Congress and the Trinamool Congress (TMC), have turned the heat on the Modi government over Goel’s sudden resignation.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said Sunday that Goel’s sudden exit from the poll panel raised three questions.
“Did he actually resign over differences with the Chief Election Commissioner or with the Modi Govt, which does the front-seat driving for all supposedly independent institutions?. Or did he resign for personal reasons? Or did he, like the Calcutta High Court Judge a few days back, resign to contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls on a BJP ticket?”
Ramesh added that the Election Commission has for eight months now refused to meet with constituents of the INDIA bloc on the issue of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT), which he said are “essential to prevent Electronic Voting Manipulation (EVM)”.
“Each passing day in Modi’s India deals an added blow to democracy and democratic institutions,” he wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
(Edited by Tony Rai)