Vivek Joshi, a 1989-batch Haryana-cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, has been appointed as an election commissioner
New Delhi: Election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar was on Monday appointed as the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC). The appointment comes shortly after the three-member selection committee, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved his name out of the shortlisted candidates. Besides Mr Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi — part of the panel — attended the meeting. Mr Gandhi, however, gave a note of dissent in the meeting while questioning the composition of the committee when the Supreme Court is hearing the matter related to appointment of CEC.
Mr Kumar is the first CEC to be appointed under the new law on the appointment of the members of the Election Commission (EC). He is a 1988-batch Kerala cadre IAS officer.
His term will run till January 26, 2029, days before the EC is expected to announce the schedule of the next Lok Sabha election.
Vivek Joshi, a 1989-batch Haryana-cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, has been appointed as an election commissioner.
“In exercise of powers conferred by Section 4 of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023 (Act No. 49 of 2023), the President is pleased to appoint Gyanesh Kumar, election commissioner, as the Chief Election Commissioner in the Election Commission, with effect from February 19, 2025,” read the gazette notification.
After incumbent CEC Rajiv Kumar, Gyanesh Kumar, who was appointed the election commissioner in March 2024, is the seniormost election commissioner.
Rajiv Kumar demits office on Tuesday after attaining the age of 65 years and having held the post for 4.5 years.
Earlier in the day, Mr Gandhi said the government should postpone the decision pending the hearing in the Supreme Court on February 19.
The Congress has been demanding that the hearing in the Supreme Court on the composition of the selection committee for the CEC should first conclude.
Addressing the media, Rajya Sabha MP and Congress spokesperson Abhishek “Manu” Singhvi said, “The case challenging the Act is pending before the Supreme Court which has issued notice on the same. We have annexed all the orders passed so far and the matter is listed for February 19, i.e. in less than 48 hours.”
“We suggest that the Central government adjourn this meeting until after the hearing and instruct its counsels to appear and assist the court so that the hearing may be an effective one. Only then can a decision be taken in earnest,” he added.
Senior leader Ajay Maken said, “The Congress believes that since the Supreme Court had said that the matter would be heard on February 19 and a decision would be given on what the constitution of the committee should be like. In such a situation, today’s meeting should have been postponed.”
The names for the CEC were shortlisted by a search committee headed by Union law and justice minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and having secretaries of finance and the department of personnel and training. The shortlisted names were sent to the selection committee headed by Mr Modi.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission (EC) bid farewell to Mr Kumar on Monday. Mr Kumar joined the EC as election commissioner on September 1, 2020, and assumed charge as the 25th Chief Election Commissioner on May 15, 2022.
“His tenure spanning 4.5 years in the commission was characterised by silent yet deep-rooted reforms across various domains spanning structural, technological, capacity development, communication, international cooperation, and administration,” the EC said.
During his tenure, he completed one full electoral cycle with the conduct of elections in 31 states/UTs, the presidential and vice-presidential elections in 2022, the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and Rajya Sabha renewals — a rare and monumental feat in electoral management.
In his farewell speech, Mr Kumar stressed the need to have a totaliser system to ensure confidentiality in polling station-wise voting patterns and said it is high time that NRIs are empowered to vote from their locations. The outgoing CEC added that consensus for remote voting mechanisms “is a must to facilitate crores of migrant voters” and biometric authentication at polling booths should be tried to efficiently tackle impersonation.
