Who Are Sukhbir Sandhu and Gyanesh Kumar? All You Need to Know About Newly Selected Election Commissioners

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led committee appointed two retired IAS officers, Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, as the Election Commissioners on Thursday, March 14.

This comes after Anup Chandra Pandey's retirement in February this year and the shocking resignation of the Election Commissioner Arun Goel just before the Lok Sabha elections 2024.

Also Read | Gyanesh Kumar from Kerala and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu from Punjab Selected as Election Commissioners.

Who Are Sukhbir Sandhu and Gyanesh Kumar?

Sukhbir Sandhu:

Sukhbir Singh Sandhu will be the second Election Commissioner. Sandhu is a retired Officer of the 1988 batch Uttarakhand Cadre who has held important positions in the Central Government, the Governments of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Punjab.

In 2021, Sandhu was appointed the chief secretary when Pushkar Singh Dhami became the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand.

Gyanesh Kumar:

Senior bureaucrat Gyanesh Kumar has been appointed Election Commissioner. It was learnt that Kumar was a retired IAS officer of Kerala Cadre who oversaw the abrogation of Article 370 as head of the Jammu and Kashmir Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs led by Amit Shah. 

Kumar also served as secretary at the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs. He retired from the services on January 31, 2024, after his superannuation.