Sunil Arora as new CEC seeks support for 2019 polls

Election Commissioner Sunil Arora on Sunday assumed charge as the 23rd Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), a day after OP Rawat demitted the office, and sought support from "all the stakeholders" for conducting the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

President Ram Nath Kovind had on November 27 appointed Arora in the post.

He will have a nearly two and a half years tenure as CEC till April 2021, during which he would preside over the general election in 2019, besides elections to Assemblies of Sikkim, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand, Delhi, Bihar and Jammu and Kashmir.

A retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Rajasthan cadre 1980 batch, Arora had been working as an Election Commissioner since September 1, 2017.

"All I can say at this stage is that all of us in the Commission shall continue to put our best foot forward to meet the expectation of all the stakeholders strictly in consonance and in conformity with the vision and ideals of the Constitution."

He said the EC had appointed a committee led by Senior Deputy EC Umesh Sinha to review the various facets of Section 126 of Representation of the Peoples Act, 1951, and its report was likely to be submitted by December 30.

Arora retired on April 30, 2016 as Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. In 36 years of his service, he held various crucial positions in the Rajasthan and central governments.

He served in several key positions including Secretary in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, as Chairman and Managing Director of the then Indian Airlines between 2002 to 2005, member of Board of Directors of Air India, Airport Authority of India Ltd and National Skill Development Corp.

He also served as the Chairman of Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corp (RIICO) in 2005-13 and as Additional Chief Secretary (Home) in the Rajasthan government in 2013-14.