Senior IAS officer Gyanesh Kumar has been appointed as the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India. Kumar, a 1988-batch Kerala cadre officer, was serving as an Election Commissioner before taking on this top role. His tenure as the 26th CEC will run until January 26, 2029, just before the Election Commission is expected to announce the schedule for the next Lok Sabha elections.
Having extensive experience in senior government posts, Kumar has worked in multiple ministries, ranging from Home Affairs, Defence, and Parliamentary Affairs to Cooperation. Previously, he also served under Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the Ministry of Home Affairs and performed a vital task during the abolition of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019.
The appointment of Kumar was decided at the Prime Minister’s South Block office in a top-level meeting that was attended by PM Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi.
Gandhi did not agree to the appointment of Kumar, refused to go through the list of potential candidates for appointment, and marked the meeting “meaningless” in his dissent note.
Kumar is the first CEC appointed since the new law regulating the election of Election Commission members came into effect. He was one of five shortlisted candidates from a list of more than 485 applicants.
Which elections will Gyanesh Kumar oversee?
As CEC, Kumar will preside over a number of key elections, including:
Bihar Assembly elections (2024)
Kerala and Puducherry Assembly elections (2026)
Tamil Nadu and West Bengal Assembly elections (2026)
These elections will prove pivotal in determining the political scenario before the 2029 general elections.
His career journey
Born in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, Kumar has a B.Tech in Civil Engineering from IIT Kanpur. He also studied Business Finance at ICFAI, India, and Environmental Economics at Harvard University‘s HIID.
During his tenure, he has handled a number of tough postings. In 2014, as Resident Commissioner, Kerala, in Delhi, Kumar was sent to Iraq to bring back Indian nurses kidnapped by ISIS terrorists during the civil war in the country. The mission safely returned 46 nurses and subsequently evacuated 183 more Indians, including 70 from Kerala.
Kumar has also held the following positions:
Joint Secretary, Ministry of Defence
Joint and Additional Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs
Secretary, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Cooperation
Assistant Collector of Ernakulam
Sub-Collector of Adoor
Cochin Municipal Commissioner
He assumed office as Election Commissioner on March 15, 2024, prior to being elevated to CEC.
In addition to Kumar, Vivek Joshi, a 1989-batch Haryana-cadre IAS officer, has also been appointed as an Election Commissioner.
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