Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra was on Monday appointed as the next Chief Election Commissioner, the Law Ministry said.
President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday appointed Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra to take over as Chief Election Commissioner from Sunil Arora, whose tenure ended on April 12.
Chandra was appointed as an election commissioner on February 14, 2019, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. He would demit office on May 14, 2022.
According to a statement issued by the Legislative Department of the ministry, Chandra will assume charge on April 13. Incumbent Sunil Arora demits office on Monday.
Under him, the Election Commission would hold assembly polls in Goa, Manipur, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.
The term of the assemblies of Goa, Manipur, Uttarakhand and Punjab ends on various dates in March next year.
The term of the Uttar Pradesh assembly ends on May 14 next year.
New assemblies have to be constituted before their five year term ends.
Mr. Chandra took office as an Election Commissioner on February 15, 2019 after retiring as the chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes.
A 1980 batch Indian Revenue Service officer, Mr. Chandra had worked in the areas of international taxation and investigation.
During his over two year tenure as an Election Commissioner, Chandra supervised assembly elections of more than 10 states and worked towards making the entire nomination process online.
The online process allowed candidates to file e-nomination directly, making the system faster. It also allowed the error-free feeding of the candidate’s information and uploading of affidavits in the system.
The candidate-related information is also made available in the public domain through the Affidavit Portal and Voter Helpline App on the same day when the nomination is filed.
