Om Prakash Rawat appointed as the new Chief Election Commissioner

Rawat, a 1977-batch IAS officer from the Madhya Pradesh cadre, was appointed to the Election Commission in August 2015.

Election commissioner Om Prakash Rawat has been appointed the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and will take charge of the Election Commission of India (ECI) from January 23. Rawat will replace incumbent CEC Achal Kumar Joti, whose term comes to an end on Monday (January 22).

The government also appointed former finance secretary Ashok Lavasa as an election commissioner.

Rawat, a 1977-batch IAS officer from the Madhya Pradesh cadre, was appointed to the Election Commission in August 2015.

Apart from being the Election Commissioner of India, Om Prakash Rawat has served in key positions for both the Union and Madhya Pradesh governments, like as, Principal Secretary (Commerce and Industries), Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Principal Secretary (Woman and Child development) Principal Secretary (Tribal Welfare), Vice Chairman of Narmada Valley Development Authority, Excise Commissioner of Madhya Pradesh, and as the District Magistrate and Collector of Narsinghpur and Indore districts in the Madhya Pradesh Government, and as the Union Public Enterprise Secretary, and as Joint Secretary in Ministry of Defence in the Union Government.

He has also served as principal secretary to Babu Lal Gaur, the then chief minister of Madhya Pradesh between 2004 and 2006. He received the Prime Minister's award in 2010 for excellence in Public Administration for his initiative "recognition of forest rights".

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