Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi during the winter session of Parliament, December 11, 2025. | Photo credit: PTI
The Union government on Thursday (Dec 11, 2025) countered Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s claim that only 7% of the candidates proposed by the government for the appointment of eight Information Commissioners, Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and Vigilance Commissioner were from marginalized communities.
Government sources confirmed that for the eight vacancies of information commissioners, the government has recommended one name from the SC community, one from the ST community, one member from other backward classes and a member of a minority community and a woman. “So for the eight posts being considered, there were five candidates from marginalized communities, which shows that Rahul Gandhi’s claim does not stand,” said the source.
Mr Gandhi, according to Congress sources, reportedly made this in his dissenting remarks after a meeting of a high-level committee comprising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Mr Gandhi, which met on Wednesday (December 10, 2025) to finalize the names of the next Chief Information Commissioner, eight Information Commissioners and Vigilance Commissioner.
The meeting lasted nearly 90 minutes but ended without approval of all the three names, after Mr. Gandhi reportedly submitted detailed dissenting notes, which allegedly stated that none of the candidates proposed for the posts belonged to any of the marginalized communities.
Government sources also shared a comparison of the appointment of candidates from marginalized communities in the United Progress Alliance and National Democratic Alliance regimes to emphasize their point. “Between 2005 and 2014, under the UPA, not a single person was appointed as a member or chairman of the Commission. In 2018, a member of the Scheduled Tribes, Suresh Chandra, was appointed under the NDA. In 2020, Heeralal Samariya, the first information nominee from the Chief Information Scheduled Castes to be appointed to the post, was appointed,” the source said.
The names of the new CIC, Information Commissioners and Vigilance Commissioner have not been announced at the time of writing.
Published – 11 Dec 2025 22:00 IST
