NEW DELHI: Gyanesh Kumar was appointed the 26th Chief Election Commissioner on Monday as the tenure of incumbent poll body chief Rajiv Kumar ends on February 18.
The former IAS officer from Kerala cadre was appointed by a panel led by Prime Narendra Modi, Union law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, Union home minister Amit Shah and Lok Sabha leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi.
Kumar has served as secretary in the ministry of parliamentary affairs. He belongs to the 1988-batch from the Kerala cadre.
He retired as as secretary in the ministry of cooperation under Amit Shah. Kumar played was instrumental in establishing the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust while serving in MHA. When Article 370 was declared ineffective in 2019, he was in charge of the J&K desk at MHA.
Gyanesh Kumar’s tenure will end on January 26, 2029.
The appointment comes amid objection raised by the Congress party over Monday’s meeting to appoint CEC.
The grand old party on Monday said a meeting called by the central government to elect the Election Commission chief should have been deferred until the final verdict by the Supreme Court on the formation of a selection panel.
“Today, a meeting related to the election of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) was held. The Congress party believes that since the Supreme Court had said that the matter would be heard on February 19 and a decision would be given on what the constitution of the committee should be like. In such a situation, today’s meeting should have been postponed,” the Congress party said.
The party was referring to the exclusion of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) from the Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023.
Congress’s Rajya Sabha MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that by trying to keep the CJI out of the panel the government made it clear that it only wanted control over the Election Commission but not credibility.
“Removing or trying to keep the Chief Justice out of the appointment (of CEC) process as an independent entity, the govt has made it clear, they want only control but not credibility. The most important thing for the Election Commission is credibility,” Singhvi said.
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