Vote theft row: Who is Gyanesh Kumar, CEC targeted by Rahul Gandhi for 'protecting destroyers of democracy'

CEC Gyanesh Kumar (Courtesy: PTI photo)

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has been accusing Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of protecting those who are involved in the process of destroying the democracy over vote theft ahead of polls. During a special press conference on Thursday, the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha stepped up his offensive against the Election Commission and claimed that votes of Congress supporters were being systematically deleted ahead of elections. And all this, he said was in the poll body's knowledge.

"EC knows who is doing this. I want every youngster in India to know this. They are doing this to your future. When they are not giving this information, they are defending the murderers of democracy," he said at the conference at the Congress headquarters in Delhi.

Rahul cited details of alleged attempts to delete votes from Karnataka's Aland constituency in 2023. In addition, Rahul presented 'proof' of how voters were added in a fraudulent way using automated software in Maharashtra's Rajura constituency.

Who is Gyanesh Kumar?

The 26th Chief Election Commissioner of India, Gyanesh Kumar is an IAS officer (1988 batch) of the Kerala cadre. He served as Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), overseeing the Jammu & Kashmir Division.

Kumar held multiple high-profile positions before taking charge as CEC in February 2025 succeeding Rajiv Kumar. After completing B Tech in Civil Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, he studied Business Finance in ICFAI, India and Environmental Economics in HIID, Harvard University, US.

Before his elevation as the chief election commissioner, Kumar was serving as Election Commissioner. During his tenure as Election Commissioner, elections were held for the 18th Lok Sabha and assemblies of Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Delhi.

Born on January 27, 1964 in Uttar Pradesh's Agra, Gyanesh Kumar has a rich and varied experience working in both central and state governments. He has served as Secretary in Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Ministry of Cooperation.

Significant contributions

Kumar was a part of the team which worked on scrapping special status to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution. As additional secretary, he headed a special desk in the MHA to look into matters related to the key Supreme Court verdicts including the Ayodhya case.

He played a crucial role in the launch of the CRCS-Sahara refund portal for submission of claims by genuine depositors of four Multi-State Cooperative Societies of Sahara Group.

Gyanesh Kumar was posted as Joint Secretary (Defence Production) in the Ministry of Defence between 2007 and 2012 during the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

His daughter Medha Roopam is a 2014 batch IAS officer who is the first woman District Magistrate (DM) of Gautam Buddh Nagar. She took charge of the Collectorate Office in Greater Noida’s Surajpur in August. Her husband, Manish Bansal, is also a 2014-batch IAS officer currently serving in UP's Saharanpur.