LoP not a rubber stamp, says Rahul Gandhi as PM, CJI pick next CBI chief

Pointing out that he was expected to study the service records of 69 shortlisted officers for selection as the next director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday evening refused to endorse the selection.

The two other members of the selection committee — Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Justice of India Surya Kant — were present and are believed to have approved one of the 69 officers. It is not known whether the CJI was provided with the service records and self-appraisal reports of the officers before the meeting.

The high-powered committee chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi met on Tuesday (12 May, 2026) late in the evening to decide on the appointment. The meeting took place at the Prime Minister’s 7, Lok Kalyan Marg residence and lasted over an hour. The tenure of the current CBI director, Praveen Sood, is set to end on 24 May, 2026.

The midnight drama in 2018, when the government had surreptitiously appointed CBI joint director Nageshwar Rao to replace then director Alok Verma, triggered demands for a more transparent process for appointing the head of the premier investigating agency. If Rahul Gandhi’s dissent note is any indication, there has been little improvement in the process since then. The inclusion of the Chief Justice of India and the Leader of the Opposition appears designed to make the selection look impartial. The LoP all but called the exercise a charade.

“Your government has repeatedly misused the CBI, intended to be India’s premier investigative agency, to target political opponents, journalists, and critics. It is to prevent such institutional capture that the Leader of Opposition is included in the Selection Committee. Regrettably, you have continued to deny me any meaningful role in the process,” read the dissent note submitted by the LOP.

“Despite repeated written requests, I was not provided with the self-appraisal reports or 360-degree reports of the eligible candidates. Instead, I was expected to examine the appraisal records of sixty-nine candidates for the first time during the Committee meeting. The 360-degree reports were denied to me outright. A detailed review of these records is crucial to assess each candidate’s history and performance. This deliberate denial of information, without any legal basis, makes a mockery of the selection process and ensures that only your pre-decided candidate is selected,” the LoP wrote.

The Opposition leader reminded PM Modi that he had recorded his dissent in the previous meeting on 5th May 2025 and also written to him on 21 October 2025, suggesting measures for a fair and transparent process. “I had also written to you on 21 October 2025, suggesting measures for a fair and transparent process, to which I have not even received a response,” his letter stated.

“By denying the selection committee crucial information, the government has reduced it to a mere formality. The leader of Opposition is not a rubber stamp. I cannot abdicate my constitutional duty by participating in this biased exercise. I therefore dissent in the strongest terms,” the letter, released on social media, concluded.

The selection is done from a panel of shortlisted officers. Sources indicated that several senior IPS officers from different states are part of the list of officers being considered for the top CBI post. Some of the names of IPS officers that are understood to be under consideration include Parag Jain, Shatrujeet Kapoor, Yogesh Gupta, G.P. Singh, and Praveer Ranjan.