Meet Rajiv Kumar, the new Chief Election Commissioner of India

Rajiv Kumar assumed charge as the 25th Chief Election Commissioner of India on Sunday. He took the charge as the new CEC after Sushil Chandra demitted office on May 14.

Shri Rajiv Kumar today assumed charge as the 25th Chief Election Commissioner of India at Nirvachan Sadan, New Delhi in pursuance of the Ministry of Law & Justice, GOI's gazette notification dated 12th May 2022. pic.twitter.com/GNgYb7e4P2

— Spokesperson ECI (@SpokespersonECI) May 15, 2022

Earlier, Law minister Kiren Rijiju extended his best wishes to Kumar by sharing the ministry’s notification along with a press note on his Twitter account.

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The notification read, “In pursuance of clause (2) of Article 324 of the Constitution, the President is pleased to appoint Shri Rajiv Kumar as the Chief Election Commissioner with effect from the 15th May 2022.”

“My best wishes to Shri Rajiv Kumar, " Rijiju tweeted.

In pursuance of clause (2) of article 324 of the Constitution, the President is pleased to appoint Shri Rajiv Kumar as the Chief Election Commissioner with effect from the 15th May, 2022.
My best wishes to Shri Rajiv Kumar pic.twitter.com/QnFLRLiVPm

— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) May 12, 2022

More about Rajiv Kumar

Rajiv Kumar will demit office sometime in the middle of February 2025.

He was born in 1960.

After taking charge as the new CEC, Kumar will now be handling the President and the Vice President elections.

The 2024 Lok Sabha polls and many other assembly polls will also be under his watch. 

Kumar took charge as the election commissioner on September 1, 2020, after the former election commissioner Ashok Lavasa resigned. He worked as the chairperson of the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB).

Notably, Kumar was an Indian Administrative Service Officer (IAS) of the Bihar/ Jharkhand cadre from the 1984 batch. He superannuated from service in February 2020.