Gyanesh Kumar is the new Chief Election Commissioner of India

Kumar is the first CEC to be appointed under the new law. He will oversee the conduct of the Bihar Assembly election later this year and the polls in Bengal, Assam, and Tamil Nadu next year.

Kumar, a 1988-batch IAS officer from Kerala cadre, is the senior of the two commissioners on the three-member panel.

The appointment came shorty after a meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi this evening to pick a successor to Rajiv Kumar who retires on Tuesday.

Even as the Congress party objected to the selection of a Chief Election Commissioner stating that the law for appointment to post was challenged in the Supreme Court, the Centre went ahead with the same.

The top court is expected to hear the matter on February 22.

"When the Supreme Court indicated that it would be hearing the matter on the 22nd, we wanted the meeting to be postponed. The legal team of the Congress has also endorsed the decision," the Congress had said.

Traditionally, the President of India appoints the Chief Election Commissioner on the advice of the Prime Minister. The appointee has to be the senior most of the two remaining election commissioners.

Gayanesh Kumar has been appointed under a new law  - Chief Election Commissioner And Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service And Term of Office) Act, 2023.

Under this, a committee headed by the law minister shortlisted five candidates, and the selection team comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and a cabinet minister took the final call.

This law, however, has been challenged in the Supreme Court. The point of contention is that including a cabinet minister instead of the Chief Justice, as was expected, violates the panel's neutrality.