On Monday, former bureaucrat Gyanesh Kumar was appointed India's 26th Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), replacing Rajiv Kumar, who had been in the role since May 15, 2022. A 1988-batch IAS officer from the Kerala cadre, Gyanesh Kumar, will serve as CEC until January 26, 2029, just before the Election Commission is expected to announce the following Lok Sabha election schedule.

On Tuesday, in response to PM-led panel’s decision on the appointment of CEC, leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi has “presented a dissent note during the meeting to select the next Chief Election Commissioner,”

At 61, Gyanesh Kumar had been an Election Commissioner since March 15 of the previous year. He is also the first CEC to be appointed under the newly enacted law governing the selection of Election Commission members. Objecting to the process of appointment of CEC and other election commissioners, Gandhi termed the selection process as both”disrespectful and discourteous”.

In his dissent note, Gandhi stated that after the Supreme Court order, the government of India has notified a legislation in August 2023 which “bypassed the spirit and the letter of the Supreme Court’s order”. It also detailed, “ The government legislation reconstituted the committee to appoint the CEC and Election Commissioners to include the Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition and a Union Cabinet Minister to be appointed by the Prime Minster and removing the Chief Justice from the committee”.

Since the case regarding the appointment of previous CEC is pending in the Supreme Court, the Congress part had earlier urged the government to postpone the selection meeting.

“The government order was subsequently challenged by a public interest litigant. The Supreme Court has indicated its intention to take up this matter on 19^th February 2025, less than 48 hours away”.

In a post on X, the Congress wrote “The Congress party has argued that the selection process should be postponed until the Supreme Court decides on the petitions challenging the new appointment process,”.

Rahul Gandhi criticised government’s decision to exclude the Chief Justice of India from the selection committee. He said, the decision violated the Supreme Court order and has “exacerbated the concerns of hundreds of millions of voters over the integrity of our electoral process.”

He said that by violating the Supreme Court order and “removing” the Chief Justice from the selection committee, the government has “As the LoP, it is my duty to uphold the ideals of Babasaheb Ambedkar and the founding leaders of our nation and hold the government to account,” Rahul Gandhi said.

He added, “It is both disrespectful and discourteous for the PM and HM to have made a midnight decision to select the new CEC, when the very composition of the committee and the process is being challenged in the Supreme Court and is due to be heard in less than forty-eight hours.”

Dismissing Rahul Gandhi's criticism of the appointment of the chief election commissioner and an election commissioner, BJP called his dissent note as “politically motivated” and accused him of undermining an elected government's constitutional mandate through “malicious” judicial activism.

BJP's IT department head Amit Malviya said, “It is an attempt to undermine the constitutional mandate of the elected government through malicious judicial activism. Additionally, it conveniently misreads and misinterprets the Supreme Court's judgment on the CEC's appointment.”

Malviya stated that a five-judge Constitution bench had revised the process for appointing members of the Election Commission of India (ECI) in 2023, ruling that the President should appoint the CEC and election commissioners based on the recommendation of a committee comprising the PM, LoP in Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India.

In fact, the court has clarified that this arrangement would remain in place only until Parliament enacted a law establishing a permanent mechanism.

During his tenure at the Union Home Ministry, Gynesh Kumar played a significant role in implementing decisions following the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.

As the 26th Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Gyanesh Kumar will oversee the Bihar Assembly elections later this year, followed by the Assembly elections in Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal in 2026. His tenure will also include conducting the Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections in 2027.

As a 61-year-old IAS officer serving as Secretary to the Government of Kerala, he has managed a range of departments, including Finance Resources, Fast Track Projects, the Public Works Department, the Modernising Government Programme, and Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Affairs.

Under the Government of India, he had experience as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, Joint Secretary and Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Secretary in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, and Secretary in the Ministry of Cooperation. He retired on January 31, 2024.

As per the law, a Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) or an Election Commissioner retires at 65 or can serve a maximum tenure of six years in the Election Commission.

With Gyanesh Kumar's appointment as the CEC, Vivek Joshi, a 1989-batch IAS officer from the Haryana cadre, was appointed an Election Commissioner. Born on May 21, 1966, Joshi, now 58, will remain in the poll panel until 2031.

Previously, Joshi served as the Chief Secretary of Haryana and has been on the central deputation since January 2019.