New Delhi: Retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Bihar-Jharkhand cadre Rajiv Kumar on Sunday took over as 25th Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India at the Election Commission of India here in pursuance of the order of Ministry of Law and Justice dated May 12, 2022.

Kumar has been serving in the ECI as Election Commissioner since September 1, 2020. During his tenure as an Election Commissioner, elections have been held for State Assemblies of Bihar in 2020, Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal amid Covid-19 concerns in March-April 2021 and also elections to Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh recently in early 2022.

Kumar said that he is honoured to have been given the responsibility to lead one of the finest institutions gifted by the Indian Constitution – the institution that reinforces our democracy. He added that a lot has been done during the last seventy years by the ECI to give our citizens free and fair elections, to ensure purity of the electoral rolls, prevent malpractices and enhance the quality of our elections.

“The Commission will follow the time-tested and democratic methods of consultations and consensus building in bringing about any major reforms for dynamically evolving to changing contexts. And in matters for which it is responsible under the Constitution, the ECI will not shy away from tough decisions,” he added. /BI/