Gyanesh Kumar appointed India’s new Chief Election Commissioner

New Delhi: The Central government has appointed Gyanesh Kumar as the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), succeeding Rajiv Kumar. A 1988-batch IAS officer from the Kerala cadre, Gyanesh Kumar is the senior-most among the three-member Election Commission panel. The government also appointed Vivek Joshi as an Election Commissioner, joining the panel alongside Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, an officer from the Uttarakhand cadre.

A selection committee, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, met on Monday to finalize the appointment. The committee included Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who was nominated by the Prime Minister. This marks the first CEC appointment under the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which came into effect in December 2023. Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu were appointed as Election Commissioners under this provision in March 2024, filling vacancies left by the resignation of Arun Goel and the retirement of Anup Chandra Pandey.

Vivek Joshi, previously the Registrar General of India and Census Commissioner, has now joined the Election Commission.

Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi who attended the meeting, however recorded his dissent on the decision, after the panel rejected his plea to hold the proceedings until the verdict of the Supreme Court on petitions that challenged the current selection process . According to the procedure followed, in line with the current Act, the government has an upper hand in choosing the CEC, with the Prime and the Home Minister being there among the three. The Supreme Court had earlier barred the long-time practice of the President appointing the CEC and Commission members based on the recommendation of the government. The apex court then ruled that until a legislation is made, the selection panel consist of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the Chief Justice. Then the government enacted the law which however maintained the say of the government. This is under challenge before the Supreme Court.

Outgoing CEC Rajiv Kumar, who joined the Election Commission as an Election Commissioner on September 1, 2020, took charge as the 25th Chief Election Commissioner on May 15, 2022. Over his tenure of 4.5 years, he introduced significant reforms across structural, technological, capacity-building, communication, international cooperation, and administrative domains. He successfully oversaw a complete electoral cycle, including elections in 31 States and Union Territories, the Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections of 2022, the Lok Sabha elections of 2024, and Rajya Sabha renewals. His leadership ensured elections were conducted smoothly, with minimal repolls and incidents of violence.

With IANS inputs