Former Gujarat chief secy Achal Joti is new CEC

Election Commissioner Achal Kumar Joti was on Tuesday appointed as the next chief election commissioner (CEC) succeeding Nasim Zaidi.

64-year-old Joti, who was the chief secretary of the western state of Gujarat when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the chief minister, will take over as the head of the Election Commission on July 6, a notification issued by the law ministry said. Zaidi will demit office on Wednesday.

Joti, a 1975-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, had joined the three-member poll panel as an election commissioner on May 8, 2015, and would be in office until January 17 next year.

He retired as the Gujarat chief secretary in January 2013.

A CEC or an EC can have a tenure of six years or hold office till the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.