CEC Rajiv Kumar to retire, appointment process for new CEC begins ahead of SC hearing on new law
The current Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar will retire from his post on Tuesday. The selection of the new Chief Election Commissioner will begin soon. According to the information, the new Chief Election Commissioner will be appointed before the assembly elections in Bihar. The new CEC will also conduct elections in Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Kerala in 2026. According to media reports, the committee meeting for the appointment of the new Chief Election Commissioner is expected to be held on Monday.
The committee meeting will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi. This process is set to begin just a day before the Supreme Court hears petitions challenging the new law governing the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners. Critics say that this law gives the central government greater control over the appointment process.
Rajiv Kumar was appointed Chief Election Commissioner in May 2022. Rajiv Kumar has conducted many high-profile elections under his leadership. These include the Lok Sabha elections held in April-June last year and the first assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir in over a decade.
He oversaw the presidential elections in 2022, the assembly elections in Karnataka and Telangana in 2023, where Congress emerged victorious, and the elections in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, where the BJP won. Recently, he concluded his term by conducting the Delhi assembly elections.
Announcing the dates for the Delhi elections, Rajiv Kumar had quipped that he plans to "detoxify" himself by spending several months in seclusion in the Himalayas after retirement. Rajiv Kumar said, "I will detoxify myself for the next four-five months. I will go to the Himalayas. I will stay away from the glare of the media. I need some solitude." Rajiv Kumar, a 1984 batch IAS officer of Bihar/Jharkhand cadre, expressed his desire to do something to educate children deprived of education.
