The primary Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) appointed after the regulation contested for election of election commissioners eliminated the Supreme Courtroom of India from the panel, giving the federal government a majority, and Gyanesh Kumar gained the various first. If the opposition follows that warning, the record can embody Kumar changing into the primary CEC to face a blast-each transfer.
The ties between the Election Fee (EC) and the opposition have been declining since not less than 2019, however the Kumar warmth has surpassed the election roll of the EC’s particular intensive revision (SIR) and has been reserved for a number of months to go to the Bihar polls. The EC had solely “intensive revisions” earlier than, however basically none required proof of citizenship from voters.
Kumar’s phrases have shocked the executive adjustments, however what Nirvachan Sadan sees is nothing greater than “EC 2.0.”
From Kerala to Kashmir to Ayodhya
One motive for the 61-year-old’s belief is the belief he enjoys within the energy he has within the Modi authorities regardless of the challenges to assault by Supreme Courtroom Sir and the opposition.
Bach Kerala Caddle IAS Officer in 1988 has a profile on the EC web site pointing to his B.Tech diploma at IIT-Kanpur and his course in environmental economics at Harvard College, and Kumar’s first submit was in 1990 as a sub-collector in Patanantitta, Kerala. He labored all through the state division earlier than taking up as resident committee member of Kerala Home in Delhi in 2012.
Kumar’s bureaucratic journey was transferred from that submit in Could 2016 and was appointed co-secretary of the Kashmir division of Union Residence Ministry, after which took off after being led by Rajnath Singh. It was a time of extremist protests and new eruptions within the valley led by commander Hizbul Mujahideen Burhan Wani. The PDP-BJP Union was in energy in its former state.
In 2019, after Shah took cost of the Ministry of Residence Affairs, Kumar was tied up for drafting a Jammu and Kashmir reorganization invoice. It’s in all probability probably the most secret payments piloted by the federal government. It cut up J&Ok into two union territories and repealed Article 370, one of many oldest ideological initiatives of the RSS-BJP.
Kumar’s dealing with of the post-aborogation riot in Kashmir, together with safety crackdowns, has earned him extra Shah’s belief.
The federal government then handed him the accountability to represent the Ram Janmabumi Thiels Khūs Kūshetra Belief, who oversaw the development of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
In 2020, Kumar’s profession was confronted with minor hiccups when the federal government excluded him from the Enpanel as secretary of 24 IAS officers within the 1988 Batch. Many tongues shaking as this was a part of the choice to have the Residence Minister as a member of the Cupboard’s Appointment Committee led by the Prime Minister.
In February 2021, Kumar bouncing and was featured as Secretary of the Parliament after an enpanelment. Shah later selected him for the brand new Ministry of Cooperation underneath him.
A senior officer working for J&Ok stated Kumar had made an impression on his “arduous work and intelligence” however “extra importantly, for his administrative knowledge.” “He all the time had a transparent understanding that he needed to put his head down and perform orders from above. There was no pointless glamour or expertise, which is why he was preferred by management.”
J&Ok officers who coordinated with Kumar on the Residence Workplace stated they stand out for his or her consideration to element. “He did not depart issues for others and was personally concerned… On August 5, 2019, interval, we witnessed his talents underneath strain. However he was all the time honest and heat and by no means noticed him lose his cool.”
Kumar’s daughters are additionally now civil servants, certainly one of his daughters and the IAS, and the opposite an IRS officer. They’re married to IAS officers.
Resignation and EC
Lower than two months after resigning in January 2024, Kumar was elected as an election committee member. His appointment was introduced on March 15, 2024. The following day, the EC introduced the schedule for the Lok Sabha election.
In a busy yr of polls, Kumar as an electoral committee member was additionally within the first meeting elections at J&Ok after the repeal of Article 370, in addition to the essential polls in Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Delhi.
Because the panel’s high government, Kumar was anticipated to take over as CEC, so in anticipation, he started consultations with workers a number of months earlier than the acquisition, in keeping with sources. When he lastly grew to become CEC on February nineteenth this yr, Kumar had a brief tenure of lower than a yr on the voting panel.
The position of CEC
Considered one of Kumar’s first orders as CEC was instructed to all workers of Nirvachan Sadan to strictly attend the biometric machine. The principles have been little enforced earlier than, and sources are actually acknowledging a rise in punctuality on the EC headquarters.
Authorities, together with the present and former election commissioners, have additionally spoken in regards to the fierce debate at conferences, which isn’t unusual now, in distinction to his predecessor, Rajiv Kumar. Six months later, throughout Gyanesh Kumar’s tenure, not less than 10 Chief Election Officers of the State/Union Territories have been relocated. Even contemplating central proxy and “routine” transfers, that is an unusually excessive quantity.
Together with Bihar, Kumar is heading for his first main election as CEC, thus far solely coping with Baipol and the Vice Presidential election has come.
Kumar and different election committee members have met with nationwide and state events with concern as opponents raised claims in regards to the many voting processes associated to the 2024 election. However occasion leaders say there’s a change in these conferences as effectively. Presently, solely leaders and MPs authorized by the events by way of e mail despatched to the EC are permitted, and the committee cites lack of house as a motive.
The EC is attempting to bolster its video games on social media platforms, settle for allegations from residents to political leaders, and “deceptive” them or “fact-checking” the identical. The common launch is issued by the Panel Element Initiative underneath Kumar. This consists of August 19, when he spoke about 28 measures since taking up the CEC, together with Bihar’s Sir.
Nevertheless, Kumar solely held his first press convention because the CEC underneath the hearth this month. (The EC often holds press conferences on ballot instances, however it’s identified to carry them to take care of the controversy.) Nevertheless, if the press convention held by Kumar signaled something, it was that there could be no web page shifts so far as his relationship with the opposition events are involved.
In the course of the prolonged interplay during which he selectively answered media questions, Kumar challenged the chief of opposition Rahul Gandhi to both show the allegations of “voting choli” or “apologise to the state.” There was no different means, Kumar declared.
For a lot of, this can be a man who got here very removed from the times when his doorways had been all the time open, and would argue that company won’t depart with out the Kashmiri drink being served as a gesture of heat within the winter. “After coming to the Ministry of Cooperation, I spotted that one of the best karwas are literally out there right here,” he says.
