Achal Kumar Jyoti to take charge as new CEC

The current Election Commissioner Achal Kumar Jyoti will take charge as the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India after Nasim Zaidi retires on July 6. Zaidi had taken over as the 20th CEC of India on April 19, 2015.

Jyoti, an IAS officer of 1975 batch, who served as the Chief Secretary and State Vigilance Commissioner of Gujarat, assumed charge as Election Commissioner on May 13, 2015.

Born on January 23, 1953, Jyoti would be overseeing state Assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh just before demitting office in January next year.

Elections in Gujarat and Himachal are due before January 22 and January 7, 2018, respectively.

An EC or a CEC has a tenure of six years in office or till he or she attains the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal had raked a controversy in April this year by casting aspersions on two election commissioners, Jyoti and OP Rawat, for being close to the ruling BJP dispensation.

To a question on an office-of-profit case being heard by the EC against 21 AAP MLAs, Kejriwal had said, "One of the election commissioners, AK Jyoti, was Chief Secretary of Gujarat under (Narendra) Modiji. The second Election Commissioner has come from Madhya Pradesh and has been very close to Shivraj Singh Chouhan. So, independence of both these election commissioners is under question."