Shri Gyanesh Kumar

(BT/CE/1985)

Shri Gyanesh Kumar took charge as the 26th Chief Election Commissioner of India on 19th February 2025. He is a 1988 Batch Kerala Cadre Officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS).

He received his B.Tech in Civil Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and has also studied Business Finance from lCFAl, lndia, and Environmental Economics from HllD, Harvard University, USA. He has worked as Municipal Commissioner of Corporation of Cochin; MD of Kerala State Cooperative Bank; District Collector of Ernakulam; Secretary of Goshree Islands Development Authority; MD of Trivandrum Airport Development Society and Resident Commissioner of Kerala House in New Delhi.

As Secretary to the Government of Kerala, he has handled diverse departments such as Finance Resources; Fast Track Projects; Public Works Department; Modernising Government Program; and Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs. In the Government of India, he has rich experience of upgrading all Defence Shipyards while working as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Defence; Joint Secretary & Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs while unprecedented transformations were taking place in Jammu & Kashmir as well as Ayodhya. Further, he has served as Secretary in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Secretary in the Ministry of Cooperation for strengthening the largest cooperative movement in the world.

After superannuation on 31st January 2024, he was appointed as the Election Commissioner in Election Commission of India on 15th March, 2024 and oversaw the largest elections of the world i.e. Lok Sabha Election 2024.

Honouring his stellar contributions in the fields of Transformational Policy, Administrative Expertise, and Electoral Governance, IIT Kanpur confers upon Shri Gyanesh Kumar the Distinguished Alumni Award 2025.