New Delhi: Sunil Arora sought cooperation of political parties and people for “totally free, fair and ethical” elections after taking over as the 23 rd Chief Election Commissioner of India on Sunday, succeeding OP Rawat.
The 62-year-old former bureaucrat will head a poll panel to conduct the Lok Sabha elections due next year.
Alongside, his will have to steer the states including Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, Maharashtra, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim through assembly elections in 2019; and he will continue in office till October 2021.
The 1980-batch IAS officer of the Rajastan cadre had previously been the Information and Broadcasting Secretary, and Secretary in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship before being appointed as Election Commissioner on August 31, 2017.
Between 1999 and 2002 he served as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation.