Rajiv Kumar will demit office on Tuesday upon attaining the age of 65. PM Modi led 3-member panel to meet today to select new CEC. New CEC will conduct the 2029 Lok Sabha elections since the tenure is six years. Several PILs concerning the appointment process, especially, for not including the Chief Justice of India in the panel as was the norm earlier, are pending before the Supreme Court. It would be interesting to see if the three-member selection panel picks up anew CEC or decides to elevate one of the incumbent Election Commissioners to the post. The new C EC will conduct. the Bihar Assembly elections due this year; Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry polls in 2026; and Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh in 2027. The CEC is appointed under the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioner Act, 2023 which came into force in December 2023. S.S. Sandhu and Gyanesh Kumar were appointed as Election Commissioners under this provision in March 2024. The two Commissioners were appointed to fill vacancies created following the resignation of Arun Goel and the retirement of Anup Chandra Pandey.
Rajiv Kumar will demit office on Tuesday upon attaining the ….
