Gyanesh Kumar The New Chief Election Commission: What We Know So Far

On Monday, Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar was appointed as the next chief election commissioner, according to the Law Ministry. He is the first CEC to be appointed under a new law on the appointment of the members of the Election Commission (EC).

In addition, Gyanesh Kumar's appointment was revealed hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level panel to select the new CEC to succeed Rajiv Kumar, who is slated to retire on Tuesday.

As the next CEC, he would be in charge of the upcoming elections in five states: opposition-ruled Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, NDA-ruled Bihar, and Assam. The election in Bihar is scheduled for later this year, with the remainder taking place in 2026.

Mr. Kumar, who will hold the job until 2029, will lead the commission through 20 assembly elections, the election for President and Vice President in 2027, and the preparation of the Lok Sabha election.

Who is Mr. Gyanesh Kumar

As a 1988-batch IAS officer from the Kerala Cadre, Kumar served as the Secretary of the Cooperation Ministry at the time of his retirement in January 2024. Throughout his career, he worked as Parliamentary Affairs Secretary, Joint Secretary, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), and Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Defence. Additionally, in Kerala, he worked across several departments, including Public Works Department and Finance. He was also the resident commissioner at Kerala House in Delhi from 2012 to 2016.

Gyanesh, who is from Uttar Pradesh, has a B Tech degree in civil engineering from IIT Kanpur. Moreover, he has also studied Business Finance at the Indian Chartered Financial Analysts of India and Environmental Economics at the reputed Harvard University.