Gyanesh Kumar new CEC after panel with Modi, Rahul meets

Gyanesh Kumar, a Kerala-cadre officer from the 1988 batch who retired as the secretary of the ministry of cooperation before being appointed as an election commissioner last year, was appointed as India's next chief election commissioner by President Droupadi Murmu in a late night announcement on Monday.

- Saubhadra Chatterji and Abhishek Angad

NEW DELHI:

The announcement came hours after the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led selection committee proposed his name as the top poll official.

The selection, however, was not a smooth affair as Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, a member of the selection panel, objected to the timing of the meeting as a case related to the constitution of the panel will be heard by the SC on Wednesday.

The appointment came hours after a meeting of the selection committee chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier in the day to pick a successor to outgoing CEC Rajiv Kumar.

Gyanesh Kumar is the first CEC to be appointed under the new law that was passed in 2023.