Gyanesh Kumar, a 1988-batch IAS officer from the Kerala cadre, was appointed as the next Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India, succeeding Rajiv Kumar, on Monday night. Currently serving as an Election Commissioner, Kumar is the senior-most official on the three-member panel and is expected to take over the top role. Kumar is set to oversee key elections, including the Bihar Assembly polls later this year and state elections in West Bengal, Assam, and Tamil Nadu in 2026.
Kumar, a 1988-batch IAS officer from the Kerala cadre, is the senior-most among the two commissioners on the three-member panel, which was previously headed by Rajiv Kumar until he retired this morning. The other commissioner on the panel is Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, an officer from the Uttarakhand cadre.
Who is Gyanesh Kumar?
Gyanesh Kumar, 61, has held several high-profile positions in the central government. Notably, he played an instrumental role in drafting the bill that led to the revocation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019, which resulted in the state’s bifurcation into two union territories. At the time, he served as the Joint Secretary (Kashmir Division) in the Union Home Ministry.
In 2020, as Additional Secretary in the Home Ministry, Kumar oversaw crucial matters related to the Supreme Court case on the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, including managing documents that contributed to the creation of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.
Educational Background
Kumar holds a B.Tech in Civil Engineering from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur. He further expanded his expertise with studies in Business Finance from the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India and Environmental Economics from Harvard University.