Dynamite News Know all about new CEC Gyanesh Kumar
Previously, he has served as the Secretary in the Ministry of Cooperation before being appointed as the election commissioner. Read further on Dynamite News:
New Delhi: Gyanesh Kumar, who took charge as new Chief Election Commissioner on Wednesday morning, replaced Rajiv Kumar who demitted office on Tuesday after attaining the age of 65.
His name was proposed by Prime Minister-led Panel. The selection committee also included Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.
Rahul Gandhi expresses strong dissent
Leader of Opposition on Tuesday expressed strong dissent on the process. He asked the government to defer the appointment until the decision on the petitions challenging the new appointment process pending in the Supreme Court is made.
Education Background
Kumar, a former IAS officer from the Kerala cadre, has an impressive educational background. He holds a B.Tech degree in Civil Engineering from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur. Additionally, Kumar has pursued further studies in Business Finance at ICFAI, India, and Environmental Economics at Harvard University's HIID in the US.
Previous Roles
Previously, he has served as the Secretary in the Ministry of Cooperation before being appointed as the election commissioner. Gyanesh Kumar took charge as Election Commissioner on 15th of March, 2024. During his tenure as Election Commissioner, elections were held for the 18th Lok Sabha, State/UT Assemblies of Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and NCT of Delhi.
He has also served as the Parliamentary Affairs Secretary, Joint Secretary between 2016 and 2018 and Additional Secretary (From September 2018 to April 2021) in the Ministry of Home Affairs and Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Defence.
In the State Government of Kerala, he headed various departments such as Finance Resources; Public Works Department and Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs. He was also MD of Kerala State Development Corporation for SC/ST and also served as District Collector of Ernakulam and Municipal Commissioner of Cochin Corporation.