Gyanesh Kumar to be the New Chief Election Commissioner, First CEC Appointed Under the New Law
New Delhi: Gyanesh Kumar has been appointed as India’s new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), succeeding Rajiv Kumar. The Law Ministry has issued a notification regarding his appointment as Rajiv Kumar’s tenure concluded today.
Appointed as Election Commissioner in March 2023, Gyanesh Kumar will now oversee the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections later this year and West Bengal, Assam, and Tamil Nadu elections in 2025. Additionally, the Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections in 2027 will also take place under his leadership. A 1988-batch IAS officer from the Kerala cadre, Gyanesh Kumar is the senior-most among the two commissioners in the three-member panel.
Earlier on Monday, a high-level meeting was held at North Block to finalize the name of the new Chief Election Commissioner. The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.
First CEC Under the New Appointment Law
Previously, the senior-most Election Commissioner was automatically elevated to the Chief Election Commissioner. However, under the new Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service, and Term of Office) Act, 2023, the selection is now made through a committee-based process. As per this law:
✅ A Search Committee headed by the Union Minister of Law and Justice prepares a list of five candidates.
✅ The final selection is made by a panel comprising the Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition, and a Union Minister.
✅ The new CEC can be either an existing Election Commissioner or an external candidate selected from the list.
Rajiv Kumar’s Tenure as CEC
Rajiv Kumar took charge as Chief Election Commissioner in 2022. Under his leadership, the Election Commission successfully conducted the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and multiple state assembly elections, including in Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra, Haryana, Karnataka, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Delhi (2024).