Gyanesh Kumar is appointed new CEC after panel with PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi meets
Gyanesh Kumar was appointed amid Opposition objections, as the Congress argued that the selection process bypasses Supreme Court guidelines
Gyanesh Kumar, a Kerala cadre IAS officer from the 1988 batch who retired as the secretary of the ministry of cooperation before being appointed as an election commissioner last year, was appointed as India’s next chief election commissioner by President Droupadi Murmu in a late-night announcement on Monday.
The announcement came hours after the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led selection committee proposed his name as the top poll official.
The selection, however, was not a smooth affair as Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, a member of the selection panel, objected to the timing of the meeting as a case related to the constitution of the panel will be heard by the SC on Wednesday.
The appointment came hours after a meeting of the selection committee chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier in the day to pick a successor to outgoing CEC Rajiv Kumar. Gyanesh Kumar is the first CEC to be appointed under the new law that was passed in 2023.
“In exercise of powers conferred by section 4 of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023 (Act No. 49 of 2023), the President is pleased to appoint Shri Gyanesh Kumar, Election Commissioner as Chief Election Commissioner in the Election Commission of India, with effect from 19th February, 2025,” said a gazette notification by the Union law ministry.
The ministry notification also added that 1989 batch bureaucrat Vivek Joshi, former DoPT secretary, was appointed as an election commissioner.
The selection panel meeting, held at Prime Minister’s office, was also attended by Union home minister Amit Shah and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, who submitted a dissent note and raised objections to the meeting when the Supreme Court is set to hear a case challenging the law on the process on Wednesday.
In the meeting, Gandhi also submitted a formal dissent note that was prepared with the help of the legal team of the party. Senior Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi, treasurer Ajay Maken and party leader Gurdeep Sappal — all members of the party’s special legal team — later held a presser to argue against the government’s decision to hold the selection meeting.
A government functionary pointed out that while hearing in a case to challenge the formation of the selection committee was due, “the Supreme Court has not given any stay order on the selection process.”
Gyanesh Kumar is a Kerala-cadre officer from the 1988 batch who retired as the secretary of the ministry of cooperation in January. He was secretary in the Amit Shah-led ministry from May 2022. He spent five years in the home ministry, first as a joint secretary from May 2016 to September 2018 and then as an additional secretary from September 2018 to April 2021. As the additional secretary, he headed the Jammu & Kashmir desk when Article 370 was abrogated in August 2019. According to one government official, he would routinely accompany Shah to Parliament when the bill to nullify Article 370 was to be introduced. He was appointed as an election commissioner in March 2024.
In the press conference, Maken said that the Congress believed that when the apex court was yet deliver its verdict, the meeting should have been postponed. Singhvi raised questions about the independence of the EC if the executive alone is involved in the appointment process without the involvement of the Chief Justice of India . “This committee which has been purposefully balanced, or unbalanced if we may say so, with a two third vote being given to the Centre directly offends these clear and precise caveats of the Supreme Court of India. It is therefore neither bona fide in its purpose or constitution,” he said.
According to a Congress leader, Gandhi in his dissent note observed that the Constitution bench of the Supreme Court ordered on March 2, 2023, that the appointment of the CEC and election commissioners should be undertaken by a committee comprising of the Prime Minister, LoP and the Chief Justice of India (CJI). While the Supreme Court judgement reflected the larger concern over the electoral process and its institutions and called for a balanced composition of the committee to choose election commissioners, soon after the Supreme Court order, the Centre brought a legislation in August 2023 that bypassed the spirit and the letter of the apex court’s decision.
Gandhi’s dissent note also maintained that the Centre reconstituted the committee to appoint the CEC and election commissioners to include the Prime Minister, LoP and a Union cabinet minister. He called the removal of the CJI from the committee a flagrant violation of the letter and spirit of the Supreme Court order, said the Congress leader cited above.
“Why else would the Supreme Court’s direction to have the Chief Justice on the committee be dropped? No answer has been given, either within Parliament or outside. The case challenging the act is currently pending before the Supreme Court which has issued notice on the same. We have annexed all the orders passed so far and the matter is listed for February 19, 2025 i.e. in less than 48 hours. It was our suggestion that the central government adjourn this meeting until after the hearing and instruct its counsels to appear and assist the court so that the hearing may be an effective one,” said Singhvi.
According to the rules, the President of India will appoint the CEC and the ECs as per the recommendations of the high-level panel led by the PM.
In March 2023, the Supreme Court directed for the inclusion of the CJI in the selection panel until Parliament came up with a new law. The judgment in Anoop Baranwal Vs Union of India, delivered on March 2, 2023, said that the selection of CEC and ECs should be done by a panel headed by the Prime Minister and comprising two other members — leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and the CJI, to ensure transparency in the selection mechanism.
The government brought a new law -- Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023 -- later that year, where the composition of the selection committee was changed. To be sure, the top court had said in its order that it was for Parliament to enact a law on the subject.
According to the new law, the selection process consists of two committees — a three-member search committee led by the law minister and comprising two government secretaries; and a three-member selection committee headed by the PM and consisting of a Union minister recommended by the PM and the leader of Opposition.
But critics said the new law marked a crucial departure from a judgment of a Constitution bench, and the non-profit Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) approached the apex court, which is hearing the case.
In March 2024, the President appointed Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu as election commissioners after the selection committee met the same day. It was the first time that election commissioners were chosen under the new law, just weeks before Lok Sabha polls. At that time too, panel member and then Congress floor leader in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, gave a dissent note on the selection, calling the process rigged.
