Who is Gyanesh Kumar, the Kerala Cadre IAS officer appointed as Election Commissioner?

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led selection committee appointed retired IAS officers Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Sandhu as the new Election Commissioners on Thursday (Mar 14). 

Former IAS officers Sukhbir Sandhu and Gyanesh Kumar were selected as new election commissioners by Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led selection committee on Thursday (Mar 14). The appointment of two new Election Commissioners took place following a meeting held at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg (7LKM), where Opposition member in the panel and Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Choudhary was also present.

Who is Gyanesh Kumar?

Gyanesh Kumar is a retired IAS officer of Kerala Cadre who oversaw the abrogation of Article 370 as head of the Kashmir Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Kumar, a 1988-batch Kerala-cadre IAS officer, has served with Home Minister Amit Shah. He was the secretary of the Ministry of Cooperation. He also served as an additional charge of the post of Secretary, Inter State Council Secretariat (ISCS).

Sukhbir Singh Sandhu is a retired IAS officer of the 1998 batch in Punjab. He served as the chief secretary of Uttarakhand when Pushkar Singh Dhami became the chief minister in 2021.

Once the appointments are officially notified, they will mark the first under the new law. This law also empowers the three-member selection panel to appoint a person not short-listed by the search committee.

Previously, Election Commissioners were appointed by the President based on government recommendations, with the senior-most member typically appointed as the CEC. However, the recent law on the appointment of the CEC and ECs brought changes to this process

These appointments became necessary due to the vacancies created by the resignation of Arun Goel on March 8 and the retirement of Anup Chandra Pandey on February 14. With these changes, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar remains the sole member of the poll authority.