NEW DELHI: Sushil Chandra was on Monday appointed as the new chief election commissioner of India, succeeding Sunil Arora who demitted office after completing a long innings as election commissioner and then as CEC. Chandra, a former IRS officer, had retired as the chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) before being appointed as election commissioner in February 2019.
He takes over as CEC as per convention of the senior-most election commissioner heading the poll panel. Chandra’s tenure as CEC starts half-way through the crucial assembly elections in West Bengal.
He will be overseeing the remaining four phases, and his experience as election commissioner through several assembly polls as well as 2019 Lok Sabha polls will ensure that the transition is smooth. In any case, as the election commissioner, he has been part of every decision and move of the Commission to ensure free, fair and violence-free elections in the five poll-going states/UTs including West Bengal.