Rajiv Kumar is appointed as the Chief Election Commissioner of the Election Commission of India (ECI) with effect from the 15th May, 2022. He will take up the post after incumbent Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra demits his office on May 14, 2022. He has been an Election Commissioner of the ECI since September 1, 2020.
The appointment is done by the President of India Ram Nath Kovind in pursuance of clause (2) of article 324 of the Constitution, as per a notification dated May 12, issued by the Law Ministry. This was tweeted by Union Minister of Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju in a twitter post today. Rijiju also extended his best wishes to Kumar in the tweet.In pursuance of clause (2) of article 324 of the Constitution, the President is pleased to appoint Shri Rajiv Kumar as the Chief Election Commissioner with effect from the 15th May, 2022.
My best wishes to Shri Rajiv Kumar pic.twitter.com/QnFLRLiVPm
— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) May 12, 2022
A closer look at Rajiv Kumar
Kumar was born on February 19, 1960. He has academic degrees in B.SC, LL.B, PGDM and MA Public Policy. An officer of the Indian Administrative Service of Bihar/Jharkhand cadre 1984 batch, Kumar superannuated from the IAS in February 2020.
He then took charge as Chairman of the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) in April 2020 and joined the ECI as an Election Commissioner on September 1, 2020.
He brings with him 36 years of government service in various central and state ministries across social, environment and forests, human resources, finance and banking sectors.
Kumar has been Director, Central Board of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), SBI, NABARD; Member, Economic Intelligence Council (EIC); Member, Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC); Member, Bank Board Bureau (BBB); Member, Financial Sector Regulatory Appointments Search Committee (FSRASC), Civil services Board among many other such Boards and Committees.