The Central government on Monday announced the appointment of Gyanesh Kumar as the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC). He will be replacing Rajiv Kumar.
Gyanesh Kumar is a 1988-batch IAS officer from the Kerala cadre and is senior to the two other commissioners on the three-member panel that was led by Rajiv Kumar.
The other commissioner on the panel is Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, an officer from the Uttarakhand cadre and Vivek Joshi.
The government also announced the appointment of Vivek Joshi as Election Commissioner.
Joshi has been the former Registrar General of India and Census Commissioner.
Earlier, a three-member selection committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi met on Monday to pick the successor of outgoing Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar who is set to retire on February 18.
PM Modi, the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, nominated by the Prime Minister, attended the selection committee meeting.
This is the first appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner under the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioner Act, 2023 which came into force in December 2023.
S.S. Sandhu and Gyanesh Kumar were appointed as Election Commissioners under this provision in March 2024.
The two commissioners were appointed to fill vacancies created following the resignation of Arun Goel and the retirement of Anup Chandra Pandey.
Read more: ECI bids farewell to outgoing CEC Rajiv Kumar
PM Modi led 3-member panel meets to select new Chief Election Commissioner
Biography of Gyanesh Kumar
Gyanesh Kumar took charge as Election Commissioner in Election Commission of India on the 15th of March, 2024. He is a 1988 Batch Kerala Cadre Officer of the lndian Administrative Service. After completing his B.Tech in Civil Engineering from llT Kanpur, he has studied Business Finance from lCFAl, lndia and Environmental Economics from HllD, Harvard University, USA.
He has worked in the Government of Kerala as Assistant Collector of Ernakulam; Sub Collector of Adoor; MD of Kerala State Development Corporation for SC/ST; Municipal Commissioner of Corporation of Cochin; MD of Kerala State Cooperative Bank; Director of lndustries and Commerce; District Collector of Ernakulam; Secretary of Goshree lslands Development Authority; MD of Trivandrum Airport Development Society; Project Director of Kerala State Transport Project and Resident Commissioner of Kerala House in New Delhi.
As Secretary to the Government of Kerala, he has handled diverse departments such as Finance Resources; Fast Track Projects; Public Works Department; Modernising Government Program; and Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs.
ln the Government of India, he has rich experience of working as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Defence; Joint Secretary & Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs; Secretary in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs; and Secretary in the Ministry of Cooperation. He superannuated on 31st of January, 2024.
(Source: ECI)
