THE PUNJAB CONNECTION IN NEW CEC’S APPOINTMENT!

Jaipur: Retired IAS Madhukar Gupta has been appointed as the new Chief Election Commissioner of Raj. He will remain on the post till 16 Sept 2025, till the time he turns 65 years of age. 1985 batch IAS Madhukar Gupta retired with the seniority of ACS on 30 Sept 2020 and post retirement, he was leading a retired life.

But when on Saturday the order for his appointment was issued, the entire state bureaucracy became surprised, because several names were in the contention for the post after Prem Singh Mehra reitred as CEC in 2 July 2022. No one had any inclination of Madhukar being appointed to this important position.

Had any of the officials whose name was in the contention being appointed to the post, they would have served for five years, but madhukar's term, as mentioned before, will be a little over three years.

According to highly placed sources, Madhukar has been appointed on the recommendation of a senior Cong leader from Punjab who is close to 10, Janpath. Soni and his wife — Rajasthan cadre IAS Kiran Soni Gupta — are natives of Punjab and this connection is the main factor of this appointment. Notably, Madhukar, throughout his service period, has never been in the 'main stream'.

Similarly, his wife too did not get 'patronage' from any govt. Prior to her retirement in June 2020, she served as the DG of JKK in Jaipur and at that time too she had used this 'Punjab connection' to get an extension, although the effort did not bear fruit. However, this time around, the husband has been successful.