He was simply Called for Formality

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury who was the Opposition member in the
three-member selection committee has said that bureaucrats Sukhbir Sandhu and
Gyanesh Kumar have been appointed as election commissioners and his presence was
simply a formality.
CEC Rajiv Kumar was left as the sole member of the body

The vacancies were created after the retirement of Anup Chandra Pandey in February
and the resignation of Arun Goel last Saturday that came as a surprise for everyone.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar was left as the sole member of the poll
authority.
The committee comprises the prime minister, a union minister nominated by the prime
minister, the Leader of the Opposition or the single largest Opposition party in Lok
Sabha. In this case, Chowdhury was the representative.

“They (govt) have the majority (in the committee who appoints election commissioner).

Earlier, they had given me 212 names, but 10 minutes before the appointment they
gave me just six names. I know that the CJI isn’t there, govt has made a law so that the
CJI doesn’t interfere, and the Central govt can choose a favourable name. I am not
saying that it’s arbitrary but the procedure that is being followed has some lacunae,”
said Chowdhury speaking about the process. The Congress leader had reportedly
written to Legislative Department Secretary Rajiv Mani asking him to send him details of
shortlisted candidates for the post of Election Commissioners along with their bio-data.
Chowdhury: The names had already been decided
Reacting to the process on Thursday, Chowdhury said, “I was just called for formality.
The names had already been decided.”
Originally, the commission only had a Chief Election Commissioner. It currently consists
of the CEC and two election commissioners.
Two additional commissioners were first appointed on October 16, 1989, but they had a
very short tenure of just a couple of months till January 1, 1990. Later on, two additional
election commissioners were appointed on October 1, 1993.
The formation of a multi-member Election Commission structure has been in operation
since then with decisions made by a majority vote.