Mamata reacts to Arun Goel’s resignation as election commissioner: ‘I salute…’

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday reacted to the surprise resignation of Arun Goel as election commissioner just days before the Lok Sabha elections.
Banerjee praised Goel for “not succumbing” to what she described as BJP’s attempts at coercion, reported PTI.
She also alleged that Goel’s sudden resignation is evidence of the BJP’s attempt to manipulate the general elections.
“I salute Arun Goel for not succumbing to pressure by Delhi leaders (of BJP) and his top bosses in connection with the West Bengal LS polls and the deployment of forces,” Banerjee was quoted as saying by PTI. “It is proven that what they (the BJP-led NDA government) want to do in the name of the election. They want to loot votes.”
Banerjee was addressing a huge gathering at the Brigade Parade Grounds in Kolkata, where the Trinamool Congress (TMC) announced its candidate lineup for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Election Commissioner Arun Goel stepped down from the post, the government said in a notification on Saturday. His resignation was accepted by President Droupadi Murmu.
Goel’s term was till November 2027, and he was scheduled to become the chief election commissioner (CEC) in 2025.
While Goel’s reason for resigning is not yet known, a senior EC official, however, told HT on condition of anonymity that there appeared to be some differences between Goel and chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar but did not divulge further details.
Goel, a retired bureaucrat and a 1985-batch IAS officer of the Punjab cadre, joined the Election Commission of India in November 2022.
Opposition parties have launched multiple attacks on the Modi government over his resignation, hinting at differences between Goel and the Centre.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that one needs to wait and see Goel’s move in the coming days.
“I was thinking that after the high court judge resigned and joined the BJP the next day and started abusing the TMC. It shows that the BJP has appointed people with such a mindset. Now the election commissioner has resigned, let us wait for some time to see what he does,” he said.