Rawat CEC, Lavasa poll commissioner

New Delhi, January 21

Om Prakash Rawat was today appointed the next Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), the Union Law Ministry said, a day before the present incumbent Achal Kumar Joti demits charge.

Former Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa was also appointed as an election commissioner to fill the vacancy that would have arisen in the three-member Election Commission after Joti’s retirement tomorrow.

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Sunil Arora is the other commissioner. Rawat will take over as the CEC on January 23. His tenure will end in December and Arora, the seniormost commissioner after the CEC, is expected to take over as the head of the poll panel as per convention.

Arora would retire in April  2021 and would oversee the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as the CEC. Lavasa would demit office in October 2022 and would be the CEC after Arora. An EC or CEC has a tenure of six years. But if he turns 65 before that, he demits office.

Born in 1953, Rawat is a former Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer, while Lavasa is a retired IAS officer of the Haryana cadre. — PTI