Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has moved to the centre of an escalating political confrontation over the Election Commission’s handling of electoral rolls and voter-registration procedures.
Nationwide protests against him have intensified over the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls and allegations that the process has led to large-scale deletion of eligible voters. Opposition parties, student organisations and youth groups have staged demonstrations in several cities, demanding Kumar’s resignation and greater transparency in the revision exercise.
The INDIA bloc escalated the campaign in New Delhi on October 6, when Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav and other opposition leaders attempted to march to the Election Commission headquarters and were detained by police after a prolonged protest. Demonstrations have also taken place in Mumbai and other centres, with protesters alleging that changes to electoral rolls could disproportionately disenfranchise poorer and vulnerable voters.
Meanwhile, in Keralam, there has been a renewed interest in Gyanesh Kumar’s stint in the state which had its share of controversy. Kumar, a former Keralam-cadre IAS officer, was the collector of Ernakulam district and the secretary of the Public Works Department, from which position he was removed following corruption allegations.
The most serious allegations arose from the World Bank-funded Keralam State Transport Project, where delays, cost escalations and alleged irregularities came under scrutiny. The issue intensified in 2006 after Malaysian project manager Lee See Been died by suicide; reports at the time said a suicide note attributed to him contained allegations of demands for bribes involving PWD officials, including Kumar. The episode led to Kumar’s removal from the post and a Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau inquiry, though the investigation did not reach a clear conclusion at the time.
His earlier tenure as Ernakulam district collector had also drawn political criticism over issues including alleged inaction against illegal sand mining. These old controversies have returned to the spotlight in 2026 after the Keralam government ordered a fresh vigilance examination of the PWD-era allegations.
As scrutiny of the CEC intensifies, attention has also turned to the salary, benefits and personal asset disclosures applicable to the head of India’s election body.
The Chief Election Commissioner and the two Election Commissioners are governed by the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023.
Under the law, their salary is equal to that of the Cabinet Secretary to the Government of India. At present, the basic monthly salary works out to ₹2.50 lakh.
Apart from salary, the Chief Election Commissioner is entitled to a range of official facilities and allowances associated with the post.
These can include:
official residential accommodation;
government vehicle and driver;
security arrangements;
medical facilities for the office-holder and eligible family members;
leave travel concession;
allowances prescribed under applicable service rules;
pension and post-retirement benefits subject to the governing law and previous service.
The issue gained prominence after former Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale sought information relating to Kumar’s property declarations from his years in the Indian Administrative Service.
The request reportedly sought immovable property returns filed by Kumar for the period between 2015 and 2023. The information was not released, with the authorities invoking the personal-information exemption under the Right to Information framework.
As a result, no verified comprehensive figure for Gyanesh Kumar’s current net worth is publicly available.
Gyanesh Kumar was a 1988-batch IAS officer of the Keralam cadre. He was appointed Election Commissioner in March 2024 and became Chief Election Commissioner in February 2025.
Before joining the Election Commission, Kumar served as secretary in the Ministry of Cooperation and had earlier headed the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.
During an earlier stint in the Union Home Ministry, he was joint secretary in charge of the Jammu and Kashmir division around the period when Article 370 was abrogated in August 2019.
He was subsequently involved in administrative work connected with the implementation of the Supreme Court’s Ayodhya judgment and the establishment of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.
Earlier in his career, Kumar served in the Ministry of Defence during the UPA government.
Born on January 27, 1964, Kumar studied Civil Engineering at IIT Kanpur. His elder daughter, Medha Roopam, is an IAS officer. Her husband, Manish Bansal, is also an IAS officer. Kumar’s younger daughter, Abhishri, is an Indian Revenue Service officer. Her husband, Akshay Labroo, is an IAS officer.