Gyanesh Kumar Appointed as the New Chief Election Commissioner

Gyanesh Kumar, a 61-year-old retired civil servant, has been named as the new Chief Election Commissioner. The announcement was made by the Union Law Ministry on Monday. Gyanesh Kumar will replace Rajeev Kumar, who will leave the office on Tuesday after attaining the age of 65.

Who is Gyanesh Kumar 

Gyanesh Kumar will become the first CEC commissioner to be appointed under the new law on the appointment of the election commissioner. He has served in the Union Home Ministry where he played a key role in drafting the bill that scraped Article 370 (that provided special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir) in August 2019. 

The retired 1988-batch IAS officer from Kerala Cadre has also held the position of the Additional Secretary in the Home Ministry, responsible for handling documents relating to the Supreme Court case on the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh.

Ganesh Kumar’s name was picked by the selection committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi. However, the appointment of CEC was made amid objections raised by the Congress party over the committee meeting that excluded the Chief Justice of India (CJI) from the selection panel.

A chief election commissioner has a tenure of six years or until they turn 65, whichever is earlier.