Gyanesh Kumar, the 26th Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India, boasts of a career built on rigorous academic training and decades of administrative services across both state and central government.
Born on 27 January 1964 in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, he rose through the ranks of India’s civil services to reach the country’s highest electoral office.
Kumar is a 1988-batch IAS officer of the Kerala cadre. In Kerala, he held a wide range of positions, such as Municipal Commissioner of the Corporation of Cochin, Managing Director of the Kerala State Cooperative Bank, District Collector of Ernakulam, Secretary of the Goshree Islands Development Authority, Managing Director of the Trivandrum Airport Development Society, and Resident Commissioner of Kerala House in New Delhi.
As Secretary to the Government of Kerala, he handled departments such as Finance Resources, Fast Track Projects, Public Works, the Modernising Government Programme, and Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs.
Kumar’s central government career was equally distinguished. He worked as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, where he gained experience upgrading all of India’s Defence Shipyards, and later served as Joint Secretary and Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs during major transformations in Jammu & Kashmir and Ayodhya.
He played a key role in setting up the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust and headed the Jammu and Kashmir division in 2019 when Article 370 was revoked.
He subsequently served as Secretary in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and later as Secretary in the Ministry of Cooperation, working to strengthen the world’s largest cooperative movement. His tenure in that role ran from 3 May 2022 to 31 January 2024, and his earlier stint as Parliamentary Affairs Secretary lasted from 1 May 2021 to 2 May 2022.
After his superannuation on 31 January 2024, Kumar was appointed as an Election Commissioner on 15 March 2024, during which he oversaw the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the world’s largest election. During this tenure he also oversaw elections for the state assemblies of Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, the Union Territory of Delhi, and Jammu and Kashmir.
He was appointed the next CEC on a Monday night, hours after Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi raised objections over the selection process, with the Supreme Court set to hear a related petition shortly after.
President Droupadi Murmu cleared Kumar’s name after the Selection Committee, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, recommended him, while Rahul Gandhi left the meeting after objecting to the process and demanding a postponement. This was the first CEC selection made under the provisions of a new law governing such appointments.
Kumar assumed office as Chief Election Commissioner of India on 19 February 2025, succeeding Rajiv Kumar.
Vivek Joshi, former Haryana Chief Secretary, took over as Election Commissioner in his place, joining Sukhbir Singh Sandhu on the panel.
Latest reports have revealed two fellow Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi repeatedly objected internally to SIR (Special Intensive Revision) decisions, including mass voter deletions which were made allegedly without their consent. The two Election Commissioners raised expansive red flags over the SIR of voter lists, triggering a political storm, with the Opposition leaders accusing CEC Gyanesh Kumar of “one-man autocracy” and demanding his removal, though an earlier impeachment motion against him was rejected by the Rajya Sabha Chairman.
