Sushil Chandra takes charge as the Chief Election Commissioner of India

The Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra on April 12, 2021, was appointed by President Ram Nath Kovind as a new Chief Election Commissioner of India. Chandra became the 24th Chief Election Commissioner of the country.

Sushil Chandra, the senior-most Election Commissioner, officially took charge of the new position on April 13, 2021. He replaced Sushil Arora who has retired.

Delhi: Sushil Chandra took charge as the 24th Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) today pic.twitter.com/w01U9YTm4w

— ANI (@ANI) April 13, 2021

On February 14, 2019, Chandra was appointed as the Election Commissioner ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. He worked for the successful conduct of the general elections.

With his latest appointment, Chandra will be overseeing the conduct of assembly polls in Goa, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and Manipur. He is set to demit office on May 14, 2022.

While the term of assemblies in Goa, Punjab, Manipur, and Uttarakhand is set to end in March 2022, the term of Uttar Pradesh assembly will be ending in May 2022.

Sushil Chandra as the Election Commissioner:

•  During his tenure as the Election Commissioner for over two years, Sushil Chandra supervised the assembly elections of more than 10 states.

•  He also worked towards making the entire nomination process online.

•  The online process allowed the candidates to file e-nomination directly which made the system faster. It allowed the error-free feeding of the information of the candidate and uploading of the affidavits in the system. The information related to the candidate is also made available in the public domain through the Voter Helpline App and Affidavit Portal on the same day when the nomination is filed.

Chandra’s work on curbing illegal wealth and black money:

•  Before being the Election Commissioner, Sushil Chandra was the Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes- CBDT.

•  CBDT in 2017, under his leadership, started ‘Operation Clean Money’ in order to curb illegal wealth and black money.

•  He has also worked towards curbing black money during elections. Chandra emphasized the need for inducement-free elections.

•   Steps have also been taken in this direction by the poll panel which includes the appointment of Special Expenditure Observers.