Gyanesh Kumar Age, Wife, Family, Biography & More

Bio/Wiki
Profession	Former Government Official
Full name	Gyanesh Kumar Gupta
Known for	Being appointed as the Election Commissioner of India in March 2024
Physical Stats & More
Height (approx.)	in centimeters- 172 cm in meters- 1.72 m in feet & inches- 5’ 8”
Eye Colour	Black
Hair Colour	Salt and Pepper
Personal Life
Date of Birth	27 January 1964 (Monday)
Age (as of 2024)	60 Years
Birthplace	Midhakur, Agra, Uttar Pradesh
Zodiac sign	Aquarius
Nationality	Indian
Hometown	Midhakur, Agra, Uttar Pradesh
School	• Queen's College, Varanasi (up to class 10th) • Colvin Taluqdar’s College, Lucknow (up to class 12th)
College/University	• IIT Kanpur, India • Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts • Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI)
Educational Qualification(s)	• B. Tech. (Civil Engineering) from IIT Kanpur • Post Graduation in Economics from Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts • A certificate in Chartered Financial Analysis from the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI)
Relationships & More
Marital Status	Married
Marriage Date	6 October
Family
Wife/Spouse	Anuradha Kumar
Children	Son- Arnav Kumar Daughters- 2 • Medha Rupam (IAS officer) • Abhisree (IRS officer)
Parents	Father- Dr. Subodh Kumar Gupta (retired Chief Medical Officer) Mother- Satyawati Gupta (yogacharya at Patanjali Yogpeeth)
Siblings	Younger Brother- Manish Kumar (an IRS officer) Sister- Roli Jain (a PhD holder)

Some Lesser Known Facts About Gyanesh Kumar

• His grandfather was a freedom fighter.

• Gyanesh Kumar’s father is a retired chief medical superintendent (CMS) from Etah district in Aligarh division in Uttar Pradesh.

• His mother is a teacher, who teaches yoga daily in the morning at Vijay Nagar Colony in Agra and conducts yoga camps at distant locations. She is also a preacher of the Bhagavad Gita.

• During his school days, Gyanesh Kumar was a topper at Queen’s College in Varanasi and Colvin Taluqdar’s College in Lucknow.

• After completing his formal education, he went to Delhi to prepare for the Civil Services examination and joined HUDCO for a year before clearing the IAS exams in 1988.

• Gyanesh Kumar then cleared the civil service examination and became an IAS officer of the 1988 batch of the Kerala cadre.
  

  An old picture of Gyanesh Kumar

• He was first posted to Trivandrum as a District Magistrate.

• When the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was in power, Gyanesh Kumar worked as the joint secretary of defence production in the Ministry of Defence from 2007 to 2012.

• In 2014, as the resident commissioner of Kerala in Delhi, he led the successful evacuation of 183 Indians from Iraq during the violence caused by Islamic State (IS) terrorists. These Indians included 46 Malayali nurses who got stuck in Erbil.
  

  Gyanesh Kumar in 2014

• Gyanesh Kumar worked with Amit Shah during the modification of Jammu and Kashmir into a Union Territory in August 2019. He was then working as a joint secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs in Kashmir. He played a significant role in preparing the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill.

• In 2019, he was appointed as the additional secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs during the abrogation of Article 370.

• In January 2020, Gyanesh Kumar was deputed to Ayodhya in the Ministry of Home Affairs by Amit Shah. He led the establishment of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust to build the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.
  

  Gyanesh Kumar (speaking) in a cabinet meeting with Indian Home Minister, Amit Shah

• He then looked after the matters related to the Ayodhya dispute and its proceedings in the Supreme Court.

• In April 2021, he was sent to the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs as its secretary.

• When Narendra Modi inaugurated the new parliament building, Kumar was sent to the Ministry of Cooperation, where he worked under Amit Shah.
  

  Gyanesh Kumar with Indian Home Minister, Amit Shah

• Gyanesh Kumar was on the committee to implement the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (MSCS) (Amendment) Act in 2023.

• In the same year, he played an important role in the formation of three national cooperative bodies named Bharatiya Beej Sahakari Samiti Limited (BBSSL), National Cooperative Organics Limited (NCOL), and National Cooperative Export Limited (NCEL).
  

  Gyanesh Kumar (middle) during the formation of three national cooperative bodies

• During his tenure, Gyanesh Kumar also oversaw the timely launch of the CRCS-Sahara refund portal for the submission of claims by genuine depositors of four Multi-State Cooperative Societies of Sahara Group.

• In May 2022, he became secretary of the Ministry of Cooperation.
  

  Gyanesh Kumar (left) after being appointed as the secretary of the Ministry of Cooperation

• His elder daughter Medha Roopam is a gold medal winner in shooting, and in 2024, she was working as the Chief Development Officer in Barabanki.
  

  Medha Roopam while practicing shooting

• Reportedly, Gyanesh Kumar is often termed as one of Amit Shah’s right-hand men.

• On 31 January 2024, he was superannuated as a secretary in the Ministry of Cooperation under Home Minister Amit Shah.

• In March 2024, he, along with Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, was appointed as the Election Commissioner of India.
  

  Gyanesh Kumar (right) after being appointed as the Election Commissioner of India