gyanesh-kumar-assumes-charge-as-cec

Gyanesh Kumar on Wednesday took over as the 26th chief election commissioner, while Vivek Joshi assumed charge as an Election Commissioner.

 

An election commissioner since March 2024, he was elevated as the CEC on Monday.

 

Gyanesh Kumar replaced Rajiv Kumar, who demitted office on Tuesday, as head of the poll panel.

 

Sukhbir Singh Sandhu is the election commissioner, while Vivek Joshi has been appointed to the post on Monday. 

 

Joshi, a former Haryana cadre IAS officer, was appointed as an Election Commissioner on Monday.

 

In his message to voters after assuming charge, Kumar said, "First step for nation building is voting. Therefore, every citizen of India who has completed 18 years of age should become an elector and should always vote." Kumar asserted that the "Election Commission was, is and will always be with the voters".

 

The decision was made by a selection panel led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and comprising Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.

 

Also read: Rahul Gandhi slams govt over midnight CEC appointment

 

Kumar’s tenure as the country’s top election official will run until 26 January 2029. His appointment comes amid objections from the Congress party, which had called for the meeting to be postponed until the Supreme Court delivers its verdict on the composition of the selection panel.

 

A retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 1988 batch from the Kerala cadre, Kumar has held several key positions in the government.

 

He previously served as Secretary in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and later as Secretary in the Ministry of Cooperation under Amit Shah.

 

He was closely involved in setting up the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust and played a significant role in handling Jammu and Kashmir affairs within the Ministry of Home Affairs when Article 370 was abrogated in 2019.

 

The selection of the new Chief Election Commissioner has sparked political debate, particularly regarding the exclusion of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) from the selection panel.