Why is Congress opposing appointment of Gyanesh Kumar as new Chief Election Commissioner?

The opposition Congress has vehemently opposed the appointment of Gyanesh Kumar as new Chief Election Commissioner and charged the Centre took the decision hastily to circumvent the Supreme Court's scrutiny in the matter.

Saying the appointment goes against the spirit of the Constitution, Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal said in a post on X, “This goes against the spirit of our Constitution, and what has been reiterated by the Supreme Court in many cases—for the electoral process to have sanctity, the CEC must be an impartial stakeholder.”

“The amended law removed the CJI from the CEC selection panel, and the government ought to have waited until the Supreme Court’s hearing on 19th February before selecting the CEC. Their decision to hastily hold the meeting today and appoint the new EC shows they are keen to circumvent the Supreme Court’s scrutiny and get the appointment done before a clear order kicks in,” Venugopal charged.

 The Congress leader charged the Centre’s hasty act has only confirmed doubts about the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party “destroying the electoral process and bending the rules for its benefit”.

The Centre notified the appointment of Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar as the next Chief Election Commissioner on Monday. Kumar will assume charge on February 19 and his term will run till January 26, 2029. The Union law ministry also notified the appointment of Vivek Joshi, a 1989-batch Haryana-cadre IAS officer as election commissioner. 

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, had urged the Centre to defer the appointment until the Supreme Court pronounced its verdict on the new law for the appointment of members to the Election Commission. 

Who is Gyanesh Kumar?

A 1988-batch Kerala-cadre IAS officer, Gyanesh Kumar is a civil engineering graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology – Kanpur, and has studied Environmental Economics at HIID, Harvard University, US.

Under the Kerala government, Kumar has worked as the assistant collector of Ernakulam, sub-collector of Adoor, managing director of the Kerala State Development Corporation for SC/ST and municipal commissioner of the Corporation of Cochin, besides holding other posts. 

Kumar has also worked under the Union government in various capacities including as joint secretary under defence ministry, 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. Kumar was involved in the Abrogation of Article 370 and played a pivotal role in the establishment of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust.