Sunil Arora, who was appointed as the new and 23rd Chief Election Commissioner by President Ram Nath Kovind, has taken charge today. He succeeds OP Rawat, who resigned from the office on Saturday.
Arora addressed the media in a press conference at his office. He assured, “All of us in the Commission will put best foot forward to meet the expectations of all the stakeholders under the purview of Constitution of India.”
As the CEC, Arora will oversee the 2019 general election. Also, he will be responsible for the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, Maharashtra, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim that are scheduled to be held next year.
He said, “We will ensure voting rights for our soldiers and persons with disability. We will give the country a fair, free, credible, impartial and ethical elections.”
Arora, 62, served as the Information and Broadcasting Secretary, and Secretary in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
Being a 1980 batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, he is the senior-most officer in the office.
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 CEC.