The Central Government on Tuesday appointed Election Commissioner Achal Kumar Jyoti as the next Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) succeeding Nasim Zaidi. The current CEC Zaidi will demit office on Wednesday. The Ministry of law issued a notification to this effect on Tuesday.
Jyoti’s first major task would be to conduct the presidential and vice-presidential elections. The President elections would be held on July 17 and counting will be done on July 20 while Vice-President elections would be held on August 5.
64-year-old Jyoti, who was the Chief Secretary of Gujarat when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister, will take over as the head of the Election Commission on July 6. The Government is also soon expected to appoint one more Election Commissioner to fill up the vacancy caused by Zaidi’s retirement.
Om Prakash Rawat is the other election commissioner in the poll panel.