Gyanesh Kumar appointed as new Chief Election Commissioner

Gyanesh Kumar's tenure will run till January 26, 2029, days before the EC is expected to announce the schedule of the next Lok Sabha election. (Courtesy: PTI photo)

Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar was appointed as the new Chief Election Commissioner(CEC), the law ministry said. He is the first CEC to be appointed under the new law on the appointment of an election commissioner. Kumar's tenure will run till January 26, 2029, days before the EC is expected to announce the schedule of the next Lok Sabha election.

During his tenure as the 26th CEC, Kumar will oversee the Bihar Assembly polls later this year, and the Kerala and Puducherry Assembly polls in 2026. Similarly, he will oversee the Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, which are also due in 2026.

Kumar, who played a key role in implementing decisions following the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution in Jammu and Kashmir during his stint in the Union home ministry, took charge as an election commissioner on March 15, 2024.

The selection committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi met this evening and is learnt to have recommended the name of the next chief election commissioner to the President, sources said, even as the Congress asked the government to defer the decision pending a Supreme Court hearing.

Besides Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi are part of the three-member panel to select the CEC. The committee met here at the Prime Minister’s Office in South Block and recommended the name to President Droupadi Murmu.

Incumbent CEC Rajiv Kumar demits office on Tuesday on attaining the age of 65.

As a matter of precedent, the senior-most Election Commissioner (EC) used to get elevated as the CEC following the retirement of the incumbent.

However, a new law on the appointment of the CEC and ECs came into force in 2023 under which a search committee shortlists five names from among secretary-level officers for consideration and finalisation by the prime minister-led panel.

Vivek Joshi, a 1989-batch Haryana-cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, has been appointed as an election commissioner.