Gyanesh Kumar appointed as new Chief Election Commissioner

LoP Rahul Gandhi criticises govt over CEC appointment; submits dissent note

New Delhi, Feb 17 : The Central government on Monday announced the appointment of Gyanesh Kumar as the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC).

He will be replacing Rajiv Kumar. Gyanesh Kumar is a 1988-batch IAS officer from the Kerala cadre and is senior to the two other commissioners on the three-member panel that was led by Rajiv Kumar. The other commissioner on the panel is Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, an officer from the Uttarakhand cadre and Vivek Joshi. The government also announced the appointment of Vivek Joshi as Election Commissioner. Joshi has been the former Registrar General of India and Census Commissioner. Earlier, a three-member selection committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi met on Monday to pick the successor of outgoing Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar who is set to retire on February 18.

PM Modi, the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, nominated by the Prime Minister, attended the selection committee meeting. This is the first appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner under the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioner Act, 2023 which came into force in December 2023. S.S. Sandhu and Gyanesh Kumar were appointed as Election Commissioners under this provision in March 2024. The two commissioners were appointed to fill vacancies created following the resignation of Arun Goel and the retirement of Anup Chandra Pandey.

Meanwhile, Rajiv Kumar joined ECI as Election Commissioner on September 1, 2020, and assumed charge as the 25th Chief Election Commissioner of India 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. Kumar during his tenure has completed one full electoral cycle with the conduct of elections in 31 States/UTs, the Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections 2022, Lok Sabha elections 2024 and Rajya Sabha renewals -a rare and monumental feat in electoral management. The elections were conducted peacefully with near-zero repolls and incidents of violence. 

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, has strongly criticised the Centre for appointing Gyanesh Kumar as the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) in a late-night decision. Kumar, a retired IAS officer from the Kerala cadre, replaces Rajiv Kumar following his retirement. LoP Gandhi questioned the urgency of the appointment, pointing out that the composition of the selection committee is under judicial review.

“The Modi government has exacerbated concerns over the integrity of our electoral process by violating the Supreme Court’s order and removing the Chief Justice of India from the selection panel,” he said in a post on X on Tuesday. LoP Gandhi, who was part of the selection meeting, submitted a dissent note to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. He argued that an independent Election Commission depends on a transparent selection process, free from executive influence. “As LoP, it is my duty to uphold the ideals of Babasaheb Ambedkar and our founding leaders.

The PM and HM’s midnight decision to appoint the new CEC is both disrespectful and discourteous, especially when the committee’s composition is under challenge in the Supreme Court, with a hearing scheduled in less than 48 hours,” he stated. Citing a March 2, 2023 Supreme Court ruling, LoP Gandhi noted that the court had mandated the selection of the CEC and Election Commissioners by a panel comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition, and the Chief Justice of India. However, the government later passed a law in August 2023 that replaced the CJI with a Union Cabinet Minister appointed by the PM, a move Rahul Gandhi termed a “flagrant violation” of the court’s directive. The government’s decision has since been challenged in the Supreme Court, which is set to hear the case on February 19. LoP Gandhi said that the Congress party believes the selection of the next CEC should be deferred until the court hearing. “Proceeding with the appointment under these circumstances undermines our institutions and the values enshrined by our founding leaders,” he said.