Gyanesh Kumar’s tenure will run till January 26, 2029, days before the EC is expected to announce the schedule of the next Lok Sabha election. During his tenure as the 26th CEC, Kumar will oversee the Bihar Assembly polls later this year, and the Kerala and Puducherry Assembly polls in 2026. He is the first CEC to be appointed under the new law on the appointment of an election commissioner. Incumbent CEC Rajiv Kumar demits office on Tuesday on attaining the age of 65. Vivek Joshi, a 1989-batch Haryana-cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, has been appointed as an election Commissioner. The selection committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi met this evening and is learnt to have recommended the name of the new chief election commissioner to the President. The Congress asked the government to defer the decision pending a Supreme Court hearing. Besides Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi are part of the three-member panel to select the CEC. The committee met here at the Prime Minister’s Office in South Block and recommended thename to President Droupadi Murmu.
