The Union government has announced that Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar will succeed Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar. As the next Chief Election Commissioner, he will oversee upcoming elections in five states—Opposition-ruled West Bengal, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, as well as NDA-ruled Bihar and Assam. Bihar’s election is due later this year, while the others will take place in 2026.

Kumar, who will remain in office until January 26, 2029, will lead the Election Commission through 20 Assembly elections, the 2027 Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections, and preparations for the 2029 Lok Sabha polls.

The announcement followed a meeting of the Election Committee comprising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi. Gandhi registered a note of dissent during the deliberations.

A 1988-batch IAS officer from the Kerala cadre, Kumar previously served in the Union Home Ministry, where he played a key role in drafting the bill that abrogated Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019. He retired as Secretary of the Ministry of Cooperation in January last year, having served under Amit Shah since May 2022. He has also held crucial positions in the Home Ministry, including Joint Secretary (2016-2018) and Additional Secretary (2018-2021), where he managed the Jammu & Kashmir desk during the Article 370 revocation.

In March last year, he was appointed as Election Commissioner alongside Sukhbir Singh Sandhu. Kumar holds a B-Tech in Civil Engineering from the Indian Institute of Engineering, Kanpur, and has studied Business Finance at the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India.

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