Agra: Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar was on late Monday night named as the new Central Election Commissioner (CEC) by the Narendra Modi-led government.
Gynaesh Kumar is a resident of Agra and it was heartening news for his family, who resides in the Vijay Nagar colony. Gyanesh will take charge from February 19, 2025. His daughter Medha Roopam is the District Magistrate of Kasganj district in Uttar Pradesh. His father Dr Subodh Kumar Gupta retired from the position of Chief Medical Officer (CMO). His parents Dr Subodh Kumar Gupta and Satyawati Gupta usually reside in Agra, but currently, they are in New Delhi.
Gyanesh studied in schools in Gorakhpur, Lucknow and Kanpur. He topped standard 10th and 12th examinations conducted by the Board Of High School And Intermediate Education, Uttar Pradesh.
Though several members of his family were doctors, Gyanesh chose a different path and decided to pursue civil services. Dr Subodh Kumar Gupta is a resident of Meedhakur and migrated to Agra due to his service. His neighbour Chandan Singh said Gyanesh Kumar's parents left for Delhi on Monday. He completed his B.Tech in civil engineering from IIT Kanpur and then started to prepare for the civil services examination. He also worked in HUDCO. He passed the civil services examination in 1988 and became an Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer. He was allotted the Kerala Cadre and he was District Magistrate Thiruvananthapuram.
The former IAS officer also has a post-graduate degree in economics from Harvard University. He was also the Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Defence from 2007 to 2017 when the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) led by Congress was in power. In 2014, he was made Resident Commissioner by the Kerala Government in New Delhi. He had played a key role in bringing back 183 Indians, who were struck in Iraq during the ISIS crisis. There were 83 Malayalee nurses in it.
Dr Subodh Kuamr Gupta told ETV Bharat that 28 members of his family are doctors. Gyanesh Kumar's son-in-law Manish Bansal is also an IAS officer. Gyanesh Kumar's second daughter Abhisharpi is an IRS officer and her husband Akshay Labaroo is an IAS officer.
His son Arnav Kumar is pursuing his studies. His brother Manish Kumar is an IRS officer and his sister Roli runs a school in Indore in Madhya Pradesh. Roli's husband Upendra Jain is an IPS officer. Gyanesh retired as the Secretary from the Co-operation Ministry in January 2024 and was later appointed as the Election Commissioner.
