Achal Kumar Joti appointed as CEC: Here's all you need to know about former chief secretary of Gujarat

Election Commissioner Achal Kumar Joti was appointed as the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) on Tuesday. He will assume the charge as the head of the Election Commission on 6 July, 2017 according to a notification issued by the law ministry. Joti will be replacing Nasim Zaidi as the Chief Election Commissioner of India, and is most likely the last high profile appointment by outgoing president Pranab Mukherjee who is set to retire this month. [caption id=“attachment_3776421” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Outgoing CEC Nasim Zaidi, along with election commissioners Achal Kumar Joti and OP Rawat during a press conference. PTI[/caption] A 1975-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, Joti served as the district magistrate and chief secretary of Gujarat when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the chief minister. He retired from active service in January 2013. During his tenure, Joti has worked as district magistrate for about five years in the three districts of Surendranagar, Panchmahal and Kheda. He also served as collector in Gujarat. Between 1999 and 2004, Joti took over several managing roles. He served as the Gujarat vigilance commissioner, chairman of the Kandla Port Trust, managing director of Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd (SSNNL) as well as the secretary of the industry, revenue and water supply departments in the state. While serving as the principal secretary in the finance department, Joti introduced e-procurement in Gujarat in December 2006. Despite a stiff resistance by some departments for its implementation, in the beginning, the e-procurement scheme was rolled out in all the state offices, district offices and _taluka_s/tehsil offices. Joti was also played a proactive role in effectively implementing various schemes of the state government for three years from January  2010 till his retirement in January, 2013. In may 2015, Joti was brought into the three-member poll panel as an election commissioner. As per the law, a CEC or an election commissioner can have a tenure of six years or hold office till the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. Born on 23 January, 1953, Jyoti will have a tenure of nearly seven months as CEC. The government will also 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.