Gyanesh Kumar has been appointed as the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) following a meeting of a three-member committee led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 17, 2025. He will assume office on February 19, 2025, the same day the Supreme Court is set to hear a challenge to the new law under which his appointment was made.
The Law Ministry notified Kumar’s appointment late on February 17. Additionally, Haryana Chief Secretary Vivek Joshi has been appointed as the new Election Commissioner.
Kumar, a 1988-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer from the Kerala cadre, retired as Union Cooperation Secretary in January 2024 and was appointed Election Commissioner in March 2024. His appointment marks the first time the Chief Election Commissioner is selected under the provisions of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service, and Term of Office) Act, 2023.
This new law, which established the appointment process, has sparked controversy, particularly from the Congress party. They argue that the new law creates a “partisan” and “non-neutral” mechanism for the selection of Election Commissioners. The Congress has raised concerns about the law violating the Supreme Court’s March 2023 judgment, which mandated that the selection committee for the CEC and Election Commissioners should include the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and the Chief Justice of India (CJI). However, under the new law, the CJI has been replaced with a Union Minister.
Gyanesh Kumar was the senior-most Election Commissioner after Rajiv Kumar, the outgoing CEC, who called for the empowerment of Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) to vote remotely and proposed biometric authentication at polling booths to address impersonation.
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