Gyanesh Kumar Takes Over as Chief Election Commissioner of India

Gyanesh Kumar has formally taken over the role of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India. The Ministry of Law issued a gazette notification late on Monday evening that read that President Droupadi Murmu had appointed Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar as the subsequent Chief Election Commissioner, and Dr. Vivek Joshi, Haryana’s Chief Secretary, as an Election Commissioner.
Once he took office, Gyanesh Kumar highlighted the value of voting, stating, “Voting is the first step in nation-building. Every Indian citizen who has reached 18 must become a voter and always cast his or her vote in elections. The Election Commission of India is with the voters, as directed by the Constitution, electoral legislation, and regulations.”
As the 26th CEC, Gyanesh Kumar will be in charge of the Bihar Assembly elections later this year and the Kerala and Puducherry Assembly elections in 2026. He will also be in charge of the Tamil Nadu and West Bengal Assembly elections, which are due in the same year.
Gyanesh Kumar was born on January 27, 1964, in Agra, Uttar Pradesh. He is a 1988 batch IAS officer belonging to the Kerala cadre. He did his initial education in Varanasi and Lucknow, before doing B.Tech in Civil Engineering from IIT Kanpur, a postgraduate diploma in Business Finance from ICFAI, and another in Environmental Economics from Harvard University. He had important assignments in Kerala and at the Centre in the Ministries of Defence, Home Affairs, Parliamentary Affairs, and Cooperation.
While working under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Kumar was influential in enforcing decisions following the revocation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. He was also part of the Ayodhya Ram Temple Construction Committee and the central government’s representative on the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust. He even sat in on the selection of the idol of Lord Ram for the temple.