Sunil Arora to be next Chief Election Commissioner

Sunil Arora is learnt to have been appointed as the next Chief Election Commissioner, highly-placed sources in the Law Ministry said on Monday evening.

Though a formal notification announcing Arora's appointment is yet to be issued, his name has been cleared by the Narendra Modi government and sent to Rashtrapati Bhawan, the sources said.

"Yes. His name [Sunil Arora] has been cleared. He is the next CEC. A notification will follow," a senior functionary said. Arora will take over on December 2. The Election Commission will hold the 2019 general election under him.

Besides the Lok Sabha polls, Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, Maharashtra, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim are scheduled to be held next year.

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.

A former bureaucrat, Arora was appointed as election commissioner on August 31, 2017. Arora succeeds Om Prakash Rawat who retired on Saturday.

Arora (62) had been the information and broadcasting secretary, and the secretary in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

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

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 additional charge and three years as full charge.

In Rajasthan, besides district postings in Dholpur, Alwar, Nagaur and Jodhpur, Arora was secretary to the chief minister during 1993-1998 and principal secretary to CM (2005-2008), besides handling information and public relations (IPR), industries and investment departments.