CEC Gopalaswami retires; Chawla assumes office

In the midst of an election season, the Election Commissioner Navin Chawla took over as the 16th Chief Election Commissioner today (April 21) as N. Gopalaswami retired on Monday.

With the elevation of Chawla as the CEC, Power Secretary V S Sampath will take over as Election Commissioner. S.Y. Quraishi is the second senior most commissioner in the three-member body.

Chawla, who was appointed Election Commissioner on May the 16, 2005, will hold charge till July 29, 2010. He has now the major responsibility for the smooth conduct of the remaining four phases of polls in the ongoing 15th Lok Sabha elections.

Navin Chawla, an IAS officer of the 1969 batch, was in tussle with the outgoing CEC Gopalaswami as the later had recommended his removal from the Commission on grounds of being biased to the ruling Congress party. The recommendation was rejected by the President on March 1, 2009.

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party had in fact accused Chawla of favouring Congress and last year lodged a complaint with Gopalaswami.

Gopalaswami’s recommendation was highly debated, as according to some, it was out of his jurisdiction. And finally the President after consultation with the Government of India overturned the recommendation.

Even today, Chawla has been facing opposition wrath when on Sunday he ruled out the demand of a petition seeking Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s removal from the lower house for accepting a foreign award.

A petition was filed under the grounds as mentioned in the constitution which states that any member of parliament shall be disqualified if s/he “is under any acknowledgment of allegiance or adherence to a foreign State.”

Meanwhile, Congress has refused to BJP’s demand of making public the content of Gopalaswami’s recommendation against Chawla.