Rajiv Kumar (civil servant)

Rajiv Kumar
Rajiv Kumar
25th Chief Election Commissioner of India
In office
15 May 2022[1] – 18 February 2025
Election Commissioner
Preceded bySushil Chandra
Succeeded byGyanesh Kumar
Election Commissioner of India
In office
1 September 2020 – 14 May 2022
Preceded byAshok Lavasa
Succeeded byArun Goel
Chairman of Public Enterprise Selection Board
In office
1 March 2020 – 31 August 2020
Preceded byKapil Dev Tripathi
Succeeded byMallika Srinivasan
Finance Secretary of India
In office
1 August 2019 – 29 February 2020
Preceded bySubhash Chandra Garg
Succeeded byAjay Bhushan Pandey
Personal details
BornRajiv Kumar Agarwal
(1960-02-19) 19 February 1960
Hasanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India
Alma materSt. Stephen’s College, Delhi
University of Delhi
OccupationRetired IAS Officer

Rajiv Kumar (born 19 February 1960 in Hasanpur District Amroha Uttar Pradesh) is a retired Indian Administrative Service officer.[2][3] On 15 May 2022, he assumed the charge as the 25th Chief Election Commissioner of India,[4][5] and served until 18 February 2025.[6][7]

Early life

Rajiv Kumar was born on 19 February 1960 in Hasanpur District Amroha Uttar Pradesh, he holds degrees in BSc from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi then he further on completed his LLB, PGDM, and a master's degree in public policy. Rajiv completed his LLB from Delhi University between 1979 and 1982 and he is also an alumnus of the TERI School of Advanced Studies.[8]

Career

Rajiv Kumar is an Indian Administrative Service officer of the Bihar/Jharkhand cadre of the 1984 batch. As the director and joint secretary in the Tribal Affairs Ministry between 2001 and 2007, Kumar drafted the Scheduled Tribes (Reorganisation of Forests Rights) Bill, 2005.

Rajiv Kumar has also held other positions such as director for the Central Board of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), SBI, and NABARD. He has also been a member of the Economic Intelligence Council (EIC), Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC), Bank Board Bureau (BBB) and Financial Sector Regulatory Appointments Search Committee (FSRASC). He held the post of finance secretary between September 2017 and February 2020. During his tenure, he undertook several banking, insurance, and pension reforms. Kumar has been instrumental in streamlining the National Pension System (NPS) which extends its benefits to about 18 lakh central government employees. He superannuated from service in February 2020 and later he held the post of chairman of the Public Enterprises Selection Board since April 2020 before being appointed as the Election Commissioner of India on 1 September 2020.

As Finance Secretary-cum-Secretary, Department of Financial Services to GOI, (Sept 2017 - Feb 2020), Kumar supervised the financial services sector and was instrumental in introducing inter-alia major initiatives/reforms in Banking, Insurance & Pension sector.[9][10]

25th Chief Election Commissioner

Rajiv Kumar was appointed as the Chief Election Commissioner of India (CEC) on 15 May 2022.[11] He served their till 18 February 2025.[12] After assuming charge, Kumar trekked for 18  km through inaccessible terrain[13] to visit an interior polling station in Dumak village[14] in Chamoli, Uttarakhand. He assessed the polling requirements and motivated polling officials, who travel through tough terrains during elections.[15]

Kumar successfully conducted 16th Presidential and Vice Presidential Elections in 2022.[16][17] Droupadi Murmu and Jagdeep Dhankhar were respectively elected as the President and the Vice-President of India.[18][19][20][21]

State Assembly Elections

Kumar, in his tenure, led the assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh in  November–December 2022, three Northeastern States - Tripura,[22][23][24] Nagaland and Meghalaya[25][26]

International Cooperation

Further, under Kumar’s guidance,  the Election Commission of India led the ‘Cohort on Election Integrity’ under the ‘Summit for Democracy’. ‘Summit for Democracy’, is an initiative of the US President  hosted in December 2021.[27][28] As part of the ‘ ‘Cohort on Election Integrity’, Election Commission of India had organized three International Conferences with Mauritius, Greece & International organization IFES as co-leads. The first Conference on ‘Role, Framework & Capacity of EMBs’ was organized on 31 October – 1 November 2022 in New Delhi. EMBs from Armenia, Mauritius, Nepal, Cabo Verde, Australia, Chile, Federal States of Micronesia, Greece, Philippines, São Tomé & Príncipe and three international organizations namely, IFES, International IDEA and UNDP India participated in the conference.[29] Excellencies, Ambassadors/High Commissioners and other members of the Diplomatic Corps from Costa Rica, Ghana, Jamaica, Albania, Nepal, Greece, Montenegro, Spain also attended the two day Conference.  Ms. Elizabeth Jones, the then Charge d’Affaires, ad interim at US Embassy in New Delhi also attended the Conference.

References

  1. ^ "Rajiv Kumar takes charge as 25th Chief Election Commissioner, says EC won't shy away from tough calls". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 10 June 2022.
  2. ^ "Rajiv Kumar appointed as next Chief Election Commissioner, to take charge on May 15". The Indian Express. 13 May 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
  3. ^ "Rajiv Kumar, India's next CEC, is ex-finance secretary and 1984 batch IAS officer". News9Live. 12 May 2022. Archived from the original on 26 June 2022. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  4. ^ "Meet next Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar: He hates shell companies and likes trekking in high Himalayas". cnbctv18.com. 12 May 2022. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  5. ^ "Rajiv Kumar assumes charge as chief election commissioner". The Economic Times. PTI. 15 May 2022. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  6. ^ "Rajiv Kumar formally takes over as 25th Chief Election Commissioner". The Times of India. 15 May 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
  7. ^ Pattanayak, Banikinkar (14 May 2022). "The quintessential consensus builder". Financial Express. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  8. ^ "CEC Rajiv Kumar Educational Qualifications". India.com. 13 March 2024. Retrieved 24 November 2024.
  9. ^ Tiwari, Dheeraj. "PSBs' earnings will reflect impact of reforms in next two quarters: Financial Services Secretary". The Economic Times. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  10. ^ Nair, Remya (15 May 2018). "Won't act against bank chiefs on hearsay: Govt official". mint. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  11. ^ "Rajiv Kumar to be next chief election commissioner". 13 May 2022. Archived from the original on 10 June 2022. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  12. ^ "Rajiv Kumar assumes charge as India's 25th chief election commissioner". Business Standard India. 15 May 2022. Archived from the original on 10 June 2022. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  13. ^ Shivani Azad (6 June 2022). "Uttarakhand: Village where chief election commissioner trekked struggling for road connectivity since 15 years". The Times of India. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  14. ^ "Uttarakhand: Election Commission chief Rajiv Kumar treks 18 km to remote polling booths". Free Press Journal. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  15. ^ "CEC Rajiv Kumar Treks 18km Through Uttarakhand's Inaccessible Terrain to Check Polling Requirements". News18. 5 June 2022. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
  16. ^ "Presidential polls: ECI issues certificate of election to Droupadi Murmu". The Times of India. ANI. 22 July 2022. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  17. ^ "Presidential poll: EC issues certificate of election to Droupadi Murmu". The Economic Times. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  18. ^ "Press Release: Election Commission of India".
  19. ^ "EC issues certificate of election to 14th Vice-President of India Jagdeep Dhankhar". The Hindu. 7 August 2022. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  20. ^ "EC issues 'Certification of Election' to next VP Jagdeep Dhankhar". The Times of India. ANI. 7 August 2022. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  21. ^ "Press Note: Election Commission of India".
  22. ^ "Enthusiastic voting continues across 60 ACs in Tripura today".
  23. ^ "Tripura election 2023: No major violence reported in poll-bound state, says CEO Gitte". 16 February 2023.
  24. ^ "Tripura 'Votes Out Violence': Polls Incident-free, Turnout about 80%, 25-fold Rise in Seizures, Says ECI". 16 February 2023.
  25. ^ "85% turnout in Nagaland, 77% in Meghalaya as polls end peacefully". The Times of India. 28 February 2023.
  26. ^ "Advance planning, use of technology and strict monitoring ensure largely peaceful elections in Meghalaya & Nagaland".
  27. ^ "ECI leads 'Cohort on Election Integrity, with EMBs worldwide". ECI. 31 October 2022.
  28. ^ "ECI to host a two day International Conference on 'Role, Framework & Capacity of EMBs' as the lead for the Cohort on 'Election Integrity' as a follow on to the Summit for Democracy". ECI. 29 October 2023.
  29. ^ "Delhi: ECI hosts conference on 'Role, Framework, Capacity of EMBs'". The Print. 31 October 2022.
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