AntoineScaby at 17:01, 29 April 2026

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{{Short description|Chief Election Commissioner of India since 2025}}
{{pp-extended|small=yes}}
{{Use Indian English|date=February 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2025}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Gyanesh Kumar
| image = Gyanesh Kumar at India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management 2025 (cropped).jpg
| caption = Kumar in 2025.
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1964|1|27|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Agra]], Uttar Pradesh, India
| office = [[Chief Election Commissioner of India]]
| appointer = [[Droupadi Murmu]]
| predecessor = [[Rajiv Kumar (civil servant)|Rajiv Kumar]]
| term_start = 19 February 2025
| term_end =
| office1 = [[Election Commissioner of India]]
| alongside1 = [[Sukhbir Singh Sandhu]]
| 1blankname1 = Chief Election Commissioner
| 1namedata1 = [[Rajiv Kumar (civil servant)|Rajiv Kumar]]
| predecessor1 = [[Anup Chandra Pandey]]
| successor1 = [[Vivek Joshi]]
| term_start1 = 14 March 2024
| term_end1 = 18 February 2025
| office2 = [[Ministry of Cooperation|Cooperation Secretary of India]]
| minister2 = [[Amit Shah]]
| term_end2 = 31 January 2024
| term_start2 = 3 May 2022
| predecessor2 = Devendra Kumar Singh
| successor2 = Ashish Kumar Bhutani
| office3 = [[Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs (India)|Parliamentary Affairs Secretary of India]]
| order = 
| predecessor3 = R. S. Shukla
| successor3 = Gudey Srinivas
| minister3 = [[Prahlad Joshi]]
| term_start3 = 1 May 2021
| term_end3 = 2 May 2022
| alma_mater = {{Bulleted list |[[IIT Kanpur]] ([[BTech]]) |[[Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India]] ([[Corporate finance|Business finance]]) |[[Harvard University]] ([[Environmental economics]])}}
| occupation =
}}

'''Gyanesh Kumar''' (born 27 January 1964) is the current  [[Chief Election Commissioner of India|chief election commissioner of India]], and the first to be appointed under the [[Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=2025-02-18 |title=Gyanesh Kumar to take over as Chief Election Commissioner on February 19; Supreme Court to hear plea against law under which he was appointed |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/gyanesh-kumar-to-take-charge-as-26th-chief-election-commissioner-on-february-19/article69234189.ece |access-date=2025-02-19 |work=The Hindu |language=en-IN |issn=0971-751X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Gyanesh Kumar appointed 26th Chief Election Commissioner |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/gyanesh-kumar-appointed-26th-chief-election-commissioner/articleshow/118335153.cms |access-date=2025-02-18 |work=The Times of India |issn=0971-8257}}</ref> He has previously served as an [[Election Commissioner of India|election commissioner]] and as an [[Indian Administrative Service|IAS officer]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gyanesh Kumar Appointed New Chief Election Commissioner |url=https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/gyanesh-kumar-appointed-new-chief-election-commissioner-7733534 |access-date=2025-02-18 |website=www.ndtv.com |language=en}}</ref> He came under scrutiny during the [[2025 Indian electoral controversy]], where the [[Election Commission of India]] (ECI) was accused of collusion with the ruling [[Bharatiya Janata Party]] (BJP) and of having engaged in [[electoral fraud]] in the [[2024 Indian general election]].

== Early life and education ==
Gyanesh Kumar was born on 27 January 1964 in [[Agra]], [[Uttar Pradesh]]. He completed a [[Bachelor of Technology|BTech]] at [[IIT Kanpur]]. Following his graduating, Kumar pursued [[Corporate finance|Business Finance]] at the [[Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India]], before studying [[Environmental economics|Environmental Economics]] at [[Harvard University]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-03-14 |title=Who is Gyanesh Kumar, the newly-appointed Election Commissioner ? |url=https://www.livemint.com/politics/news/from-overseeing-article-370-abrogation-to-heading-mha-desk-on-ayodhya-meet-gyanesh-kumar-the-new-election-commissioner-11710407685528.html |access-date=2024-03-18 |website=[[Livemint]] |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=18 February 2025 |title=IIT Kanpur, Roorkee, Harvard University: Educational qualifications of Gyanesh Kumar & Vivek Joshi |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/education/iit-kanpur-roorkee-harvard-university-educational-qualifications-ec-vivek-joshi-cec-gyanesh-kumar-jee-main-advanced-9842296/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250219005454/https://indianexpress.com/article/education/iit-kanpur-roorkee-harvard-university-educational-qualifications-ec-vivek-joshi-cec-gyanesh-kumar-jee-main-advanced-9842296/ |archive-date=19 February 2025 |website=[[The Indian Express]]}}</ref>

== Career ==
Kumar is a retired [[Indian Administrative Service]] (IAS) officer of the 1988 Kerala batch. Kumar served as [[Joint Secretary to the Government of India|joint secretary]] in the department of defence production at the [[Ministry of Defence (India)|ministry of defence]] from 2007 to 2012.<ref name="IE">{{Cite web |date=2024-03-14 |title=Who is Gyanesh Kumar, the Election Commissioner picked by PM Modi-led panel |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/who-is/gyanesh-kumar-election-commissioner-pm-modi-led-panel-9214010/ |access-date=2024-03-14 |website=[[The Indian Express]] |language=en}}</ref> He served as [[Secretary to the Government of India|secretary]] in the [[Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs (India)|ministry of parliamentary affairs]] and the [[Ministry of Co-operation|ministry of co-operation]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=2024-03-14 |title=Who is Gyanesh Kumar, the newly appointed election commissioner |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/who-is-gyanesh-kumar-the-newly-appointed-election-commissioner/articleshow/108489268.cms |access-date=2024-03-18 |work=[[The Times of India]] |issn=0971-8257}}</ref><ref name="Outlook">{{Cite web |title=Who Are Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, The Retired IAS Officers Appointed As Election Commissioners? |url=https://www.outlookindia.com/national/who-are-gyanesh-kumar-and-sukhbir-singh-sandhu-the-bureaucrats-appointed-as-election-commissioners |access-date=2024-03-18 |website=[[Outlook (Indian magazine)|Outlook India]] |date=15 March 2024 |language=en}}</ref>

Kumar was involved in the drafting of the [[Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019|Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act]], which [[Revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir|revoked the special autonomous status]] granted to [[Jammu and Kashmir (state)|Jammu and Kashmir]] in 1947.<ref>{{Cite web |first=Mukesh |last=Ranjan |date=18 February 2025 |title=Gyanesh Kumar, once known as 'Kahwa man’ in Delhi's North Block is now Chief Election Commissioner |url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2025/Feb/18/gyanesh-kumar-once-known-as-kahwa-man-in-delhis-north-block-is-now-chief-election-commissioner |website=[[The New Indian Express]]}}</ref> In January 2020, Kumar was assigned to the [[Ministry of Home Affairs (India)|ministry of home affairs]], wherein he was involved in the establishment of the [[Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra]], the organisation overseeing the construction and management of the [[Ram Mandir]] at the site of the [[Demolition of the Babri Masjid|demolished]] [[Babri Masjid]].<ref name="Outlook" />

=== Chief Election Commissioner of India ===
On 19 February 2025, Kumar was appointed as the new [[Chief Election Commissioner of India]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Gyanesh Kumar Appointed as India's New Chief Election Commissioner |url=https://www.brutimes.com/news/politics/gyanesh-kumar-appointed-as-indias-new-chief-election-commissioner |website=Bru Times News |language=en}}</ref>

==== 2025 Indian electoral controversy ====
{{Main|2025 Indian electoral controversy}}
In August 2025, Kumar became a focal point of the [[2025 Indian electoral controversy]], wherein [[Rahul Gandhi]], the leader of the [[Indian National Congress]] (often simply known as "the Congress"), alleged widespread [[electoral fraud]] in the [[2024 Indian general election]] and the collusion of the ECI with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), leading to protests.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1 August 2025 |title=Congress has ‘atom bomb’ of evidence on vote theft and when it explodes, EC wont have a place to hide, says Rahul Gandhi |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/what-we-have-found-is-an-atom-bomb-theres-100-proof-ec-doing-vote-chori-for-bjp-congress-leader-rahul-gandhi/article69882114.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250801083529/https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/what-we-have-found-is-an-atom-bomb-theres-100-proof-ec-doing-vote-chori-for-bjp-congress-leader-rahul-gandhi/article69882114.ece |archive-date=1 August 2025 |website=[[The Hindu]]}}</ref> Gandhi stated that votes had been "stolen" in Karnataka’s [[Mahadevapura Assembly constituency]] through five separate ways, those being 11,965 duplicate voters, 40,009 voters with fake and invalid addresses, 10,452 bulk voters or single address voters, 4,132 voters with invalid photos, and 33,692 voters misusing Form 6, which is used for the registration of new voters.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dasgupta |first=Sravasti |date=7 August 2025 |title='Elections Choreographed, Huge Criminal Fraud by Election Commission': Rahul Gandhi |url=https://m.thewire.in/article/politics/elections-choreographed-huge-criminal-fraud-by-election-commission-rahul-gandhi/amp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250927190145/https://m.thewire.in/article/politics/elections-choreographed-huge-criminal-fraud-by-election-commission-rahul-gandhi/amp |archive-date=27 September 2025 |website=[[The Wire (India)]]}}</ref> Kumar was widely criticised by opposition parties and leaders, of the [[Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance]] (INDIA) coalition of failing to adequately respond to the allegations and of mimicking BJP rhetoric. In reaction, Kumar criticised the opposition of "spreading misinformation".<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=K. Nair |first=Sobhana |date=18 August 2025 |title=INDIA bloc considering motion to remove CEC Gyanesh Kumar |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-bloc-considering-motion-to-remove-chief-election-commissioner-gyanesh-kumar-august-18-2025/article69946271.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250818175056/https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-bloc-considering-motion-to-remove-chief-election-commissioner-gyanesh-kumar-august-18-2025/article69946271.ece |archive-date=18 August 2025 |website=[[The Hindu]]}}</ref>

Kumar also refused to provide machine-readable voter lists and CCTV footage of polling, citing "voter privacy concerns", instead repeatedly demanding that the opposition submit signed affidavits. However, when asked about [[Anurag Thakur]], a BJP [[Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha|Member of Parliament]] who had made similar allegations of electoral fraud against the Congress, but against whom the ECI had remained silent and who was not asked to submit any affidavits, Kumar did not respond.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chakrabarty |first=Sreeparna |date=17 August 2025 |title=File affidavit in seven days or apologise: ECI ultimatum on Rahul Gandhi’s Karnataka vote theft |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/file-affidavit-in-seven-days-or-apologise-eci-ultimatum-on-rahul-gandhis-karnataka-vote-theft-allegations/article69944380.ece/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250911085155/https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/file-affidavit-in-seven-days-or-apologise-eci-ultimatum-on-rahul-gandhis-karnataka-vote-theft-allegations/article69944380.ece/amp/ |archive-date=11 September 2025 |website=[[The Hindu]]}}</ref>

During a parliamentary session on 18 August 2025, the INDIA bloc publicly acknowledged that it was considering a [[Impeachment|motion of impeachment]] against Kumar.<ref name=":0" />

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumar, Gyanesh}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Members of the Election Commission of India]]
[[Category:1964 births]]
[[Category:People from Agra]]
[[Category:Indian Administrative Service officers]]
[[Category:IIT Kanpur alumni]]
[[Category:Electoral fraud in India]]
[[Category:Political controversies in India]]
[[Category:Political scandals in India]]

Gyanesh Kumar - Revision history

AntoineScaby at 17:01, 29 April 2026