New Delhi: Gyanesh Kumar has been appointed as the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India, following a selection process led by a committee comprising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi. President Droupadi Murmu made the official announcement on Monday, with Kumar set to replace Rajiv Kumar, who will retire on Tuesday after reaching the age of 65. Kumar becomes the first CEC to be appointed under the new law for the appointment of election commissioners.
Alongside Kumar's appointment, Dr. Vivek Joshi, a 1989-batch IAS officer from the Haryana cadre, has been appointed as Election Commissioner. The announcement was made on Monday, and Joshi will assume his role once he takes charge of the office. Joshi had previously served as Chief Secretary of Haryana in November 2024, and his appointment to the Election Commission follows the restructuring within the Commission.
Gyanesh Kumar, a Kerala-cadre officer from the 1988 batch, retired as Secretary in the Ministry of Cooperation in January 2024. He had served in the Ministry of Cooperation from May 2022 under Amit Shah’s leadership. Kumar’s tenure in the Ministry of Home Affairs was significant, serving as Joint Secretary from May 2016 to September 2018, and as Additional Secretary from September 2018 to April 2021. He headed the Jammu & Kashmir desk during the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. According to a government official, Kumar regularly accompanied Amit Shah to Parliament when the bill to nullify Article 370 was being introduced. In March 2024, Kumar, along with Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, was appointed as Election Commissioner before being elevated to the role of Chief Election Commissioner.
Vivek Joshi, an IAS officer of the Haryana cadre, is also noted for his educational background in Business Finance and Civil Engineering. His appointment as Election Commissioner follows the search for Haryana's new Chief Secretary, as Joshi’s elevation to the Election Commission opened this position. Currently, the search for Haryana's new Chief Secretary is focusing on five 1990-batch IAS officers: Sudhir Rajpal, Sumita Misra, Anurag Rastogi, Anand Mohan Sharan, and Raja Sekhar Vundru. The senior-most officers in the group are Rajpal and Misra, with Rastogi likely to be picked despite his upcoming retirement in June 2025.
The appointments of Gyanesh Kumar and Vivek Joshi to the Election Commission are seen as significant for strengthening the body’s independence and efficiency in overseeing elections in the country. These moves come as part of ongoing efforts to ensure the Election Commission is better equipped to handle the evolving political landscape.
BI Bureau
