Sunil Arora takes charge as new Chief Election Commissioner of India

Sunil Arora on Sunday took charge as the new Chief Election Commissioner of India.

NEW DELHI: Sunil Arora on Sunday took charge as the 23rd Chief Election Commissioner of India succeeding Om Prakash Rawat who retired on Saturday. 

The all-important Lok Sabha elections in 2019 will be held under Arora's chairmanship. Along with the general elections, assembly elections are due to be held in Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, Maharashtra, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim in 2019.

Delhi: Sunil Arora takes charge as the new Chief Election Commissioner of India pic.twitter.com/7ruBbg5MN5 — ANI (@ANI) December 2, 2018

A CEC of the Election Commission 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. 

Arora was appointed as election commissioner on August 31, 2017. His name as the CEC was cleared by the Centre and sent to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The 62-year-old has earlier served as the information and broadcasting secretary, and the secretary in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. He also served as joint secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation during 1999-2002 and the CMD, Indian Airlines, for five years -- two years as an additional charge and three years as full charge.

A 1980-batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, Arora has worked in ministries such as finance, textiles and the Planning Commission.