Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Election Commission
02-December-2018 14:45 IST
Shri Sunil Arora takes over as new Chief Election Commissioner of India
Shri Sunil Arora today assumed charge as the 23rd Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India succeeding Shri O.P.Rawat. Shri Rawat who demitted the office on 1st December, 2018 after completing his tenure.
Prior to assuming charge as Chief Election Commissioner, Shri Arora had been serving as Election Commissioner in Election Commission of India since 1st September 2017. During this time, Election Commission has conducted elections to the states of Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland & Karnataka successfully. Similarly, elections to five poll going states, namely, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan & Telangana are in various stages of completion and the counting of the same is on 11th December, 2018. During his tenure as CEC, there will be General Election to the 17th Lok Sabha, General Elections besides the elections to State Legislative Assemblies of Sikkim, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Orissa, Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand, NCT of Delhi, Bihar and Jammu & Kashmir.
Born on 13th April, 1956, Shri Arora, a former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Rajasthan cadre 1980 batch, superannuated on 30th April, 2016 as Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India. During the 36 years of his service, he held various crucial positions in the State Government of Rajasthan and in the Central Government.
He served in several key positions viz. Secretary in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Chairman & 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 Corporation. Shri Arora also served as the Chairman of Rajasthan State Industrial Development & Investment Corporation (RIICO) in 2005-2013 and as Additional Chief Secretary, Home, Government of Rajasthan in 2013-2014 among several other important positions.
The text of the statement given by Sh. Arora after assumption of charge as CEC is reproduced below:
“As we are all aware, founding fathers of our Constitution set up the institution of Election Commission on 25th January 1950. Over a period of time, due to the sheer dedication of so many illustrious CECs, ECs and all those who are working in the Commission as well as those in the field formations, have made Election Commission an iconic institution. The entire democratic world looks up to it and those countries who are transiting towards democracies, for them this Commission is a beacon of hope. It is with utmost humility and an enormous sense of responsibility that I have just taken over as Chief Election Commissioner. I have already remained here as Election Commissioner for a little over a year. 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 of India especially the Preamble thereof.
We are also aware that Elections to Lok Sabha are in the offing. The internal preparations for this actually started sometimes back. We will try to meticulously prepare on all fronts whether it is ER, EVM, VVPATs disseminations through our very credible programme of SVEEP ensuring voting rights through ETPBS for our soldiers, for persons with disability and give the country a fair, credible, free, impartial and ethical election. In that Ashok Lavasa ji my colleague, batch mate and fellow commissioner, whoever joins as the next other Commissioner and all my colleagues in the ECI we will elicit and want to solicit cooperation of all the stakeholders including political parties, members of civil society, NGOs, media and all those who have a stake in the crucial events like elections to Lok Sabha of India. I will not say more on this occasion except to seek the blessings of all of you. A concrete issue which I just want to mention is that, we had appointed a committee to review the various facets of Section126 of Representation of the Peoples Act 1951, under our Senior Deputy EC Shri Umesh Sinha ji. He has already assured me that they are going to submit the final report for the perusal and consideration of the Commission by 30th December 2018. Thank you.”
पत्र सूचना कार्यालय
भारत सरकार
चुनाव आयोग
02-दिसंबर-2018 16:23 IST
श्री सुनील अरोड़ा ने भारत के नये मुख्य चुनाव आयुक्त का पदभार ग्रहण किया
श्री सुनील अरोड़ा ने आज श्री ओ.पी. रावत का स्थान लेते हुए भारत के
23वें मुख्य चुनाव आयुक्त (सीईसी) के रूप में कार्यभार संभाला। श्री रावत ने अपना कार्यकाल संपन्न होने के बाद
01 दिसंबर,
2018 को पदत्याग किया था।
चुनाव आयुक्त का पदभार ग्रहण करने के पहले श्री अरोड़ा 01 सितंबर, 2017 से भारतीय चुनाव आयोग में चुनाव आयुक्त के रूप में कार्य कर रहे थे। इस अवधि के दौरान चुनाव आयोग ने हिमाचल प्रदेश, गुजरात, त्रिपुरा, मेघालय, नगालैंड एवं कर्नाटक में सफलतापूर्वक चुनावों का आयोजन किया। इसी प्रकार जिन पांच राज्यों- छत्तीसगढ़, मध्य प्रदेश, मिजोरम, राजस्थान एवं तेलंगाना में जहां चुनाव हो रहे हैं, वहां चुनाव प्रक्रिया संपन्न होने के विभिन्न चरणों में हैं। वहां मतों की गिनती 11 दिसंबर, 2018 को होगी। सीईसी के रूप में उनके कार्यकाल के दौरान 17वीं लोकसभा के आम चुनाव होंगे। इन आम चुनावों के अतिरिक्त, सिक्किम, आंध्र प्रदेश, अरूणाचल प्रदेश, ओडिशा, महाराष्ट्र, हरियाणा, झारखंड, दिल्ली राजधानी क्षेत्र, बिहार एवं जम्मू तथा कश्मीर के विधानसभा के चुनाव भी होंगे।
13 अप्रैल, 1956 को जन्मे श्री अरोड़ा 1980 बैच के राजस्थान कैडर के एक पूर्व भारतीय प्रशासनिक सेवा (आईएएस) अधिकारी हैं, जो भारत सरकार के सूचना एवं प्रसारण मंत्रालय में सचिव के रूप में 30 अप्रैल, 2016 को सेवानिवृत्त हुए थे। 36 वर्षों के अपने सेवाकाल के दौरान उन्होंने राजस्थान सरकार तथा केन्द्र सरकार में विभिन्न महत्वपूर्ण पदों पर अपनी सेवाएं दीं।
उन्होंने कौशल विकास एवं उद्यमिता मंत्रालय तथा सूचना एवं प्रसारण मंत्रालय में सचिव, 2002 से 2005 तक तत्कालीन इंडियन एयरलाइंस में अध्यक्ष व प्रबंध निदेशक, एयर इंडिया, एयरपोर्ट अथॉरिटी ऑफ इंडिया लिमिटेड एवं राष्ट्रीय कौशल विकास निगम के निदेशक मंडल के सदस्य जैसे महत्वपूर्ण पदों पर सेवाएं दीं। श्री अरोड़ा ने 2005-2013 में राजस्थान राज्य औद्योगिक विकास एवं निवेश निगम (रीको) के अध्यक्ष के रूप में तथा कई अन्य महत्वपूर्ण पदों के अतिरिक्त 2013-14 के दौरान राजस्थान सरकार में गृह मंत्रालय में अपर मुख्य सचिव के रूप में भी काम किया।
