After PESB, Rajiv Kumar (IAS) moves to ECI as new Election Commissioner

New Delhi: Rajiv Kumar (IAS) has assumed charge as the new Election Commissioner (EC) of India on Tuesday. Kumar joins the Election Commission of India (ECI) with Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora and Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra. He retired as the Union Finance Secretary in February this year and was appointed as Chairperson of the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) on April 29 till demitting office on August 31.

Rajiv's profile and background

Born on February 19, 1960, Kumar is a retired 1984-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Jharkhand cadre. During the span of more than 36 years of services in the government, Kumar has worked in various ministries at the Centre and his state cadre of Bihar/Jharkhand. Kumar is credited with ushering in multiple reforms in the banking sector and providing a record amount of capital infusion in public sector banks.

Kumar holds a PhD from Lucknow University and a D.Phil. in Economics from Oxford University. He has a Bachelor's Degree from St. Stephen college of Delhi University. He also holds a Bachelor's in Law (LLB) and a PG Diploma in Management from IGNOU. Kumar has extensive work experience across the social sector, environment and forests, human resources, finance and banking sector.

His career graph demonstrates a commitment towards bringing about amendments in extant policy regime for greater transparency, delivery of services to citizens directly, and eliminating intermediaries. Kumar has also been the Establishment Officer in the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) from 2015-17 and prior to that Joint Secretary, Department of Expenditure, with earlier assignments in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Ministry of Environment and Forests and also Education department in the state cadre.

Rajiv Kumar is an avid trekker with a keen interest in Indian classical and devotional music.

Election Commission of India (ECI)

The Election Commission of India is an autonomous constitutional authority responsible for administering election processes in India at national and state. The body administers elections to the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, state Legislative Assemblies, State Legislative Councils, and the offices of the President and Vice President of the country. The Commission has powers under the Constitution to act in an appropriate manner when the enacted laws make insufficient provisions to deal with a given situation in the conduct of an election. Being a constitutional authority, the Election Commission is amongst the few institutions which function with both autonomy and freedom, along with the country's higher judiciary, the Union Public Service Commission and the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

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