Sunil Arora is the senior-most officer in the election commission.
(File photo)New Delhi:Sunil Arora, who was appointed as the new Chief Election Commissioner by President Ram Nath Kovind, will take charge today.
He will succeed OP Rawat, who demitted office on Saturday.The Election Commission will hold the 2019 general election under him.
Besides the LokSabha elections, Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, Maharashtra, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim are scheduled to be held next year.Mr Arora, 62, had been the Information and Broadcasting Secretary, and Secretary in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.A 1980 batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, Mr Arora is the senior-most officer in the election commission.
He has worked in ministries and departments such as Finance, Textiles and Planning Commission.He also served as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation during 1999-2002 and CMD, Indian Airlines for five years (two years as additional charge and three years as full charge).In Rajasthan, besides district postings in Dholpur, Alwar, Nagaur and Jodhpur, he was Secretary to the Chief Minister during 1993-1998 and Principal Secretary to CM (2005- 2008) and handled Information and Public Relations (IPR), Industries and Investment Departments.A Chief Election Commissioner or an EC can have a tenure of six years or hold office till the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.
The convention is to appoint the senior-most election commissioner as chief election commissioner.