New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday submitted a formal note of dissent during a high-level meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to finalise appointments to major transparency institutions, including the Central Information Commission (CIC) and the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC).

The meeting, which lasted nearly an hour and a half, saw Gandhi object to the names proposed by the government and formally record his disagreement in writing, officials present said.

As Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Gandhi is part of the statutory selection panels for these watchdog bodies. As per the report, he has repeatedly voiced concerns that the government is attempting to compromise the independence of institutions tasked with ensuring accountability.

Wednesday’s dissent, sources indicated, was an extension of those long-standing objections. Details of the shortlisted candidates or the specifics of Gandhi’s objections were not immediately made public.

Earlier in the day, Gandhi escalated his criticism of the government on a separate front, accusing the BJP of transforming the Election Commission into a “tool for vote chori”.

Sharing a clip of his Lok Sabha speech on X, Rahul Gandhi posed three pointed questions on recent changes to election laws, the removal of the Chief Justice of India from the EC selection panel, the grant of near-total legal immunity to the Commission ahead of the 2024 polls, and the decision to destroy CCTV footage within 45 days. “The answer is one, BJP is turning the Election Commission into a tool for vote theft,” he said.