On Tuesday evening, Anup Chandra Pandey was appointed as the as the Election Commissioner by President Ram Nath Kovind. The former Uttar Pradesh-cadre IAS officer will join the poll panel as one of the two EC, alongside Rajiv Kumar. A vacancy had been created earlier this year after Sunil Arora's term came to an end. Currently, Sushil Chandra is the Chief Election Commissioner.
Pandey is a retired Indian Administrative Service Officer (IAS) of the 1984 batch who retired as the Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh in August 2019. He had succeeded Rajive Kumar to the post in June 2018 and also functioned as the Additional Chief Secretary of the Institutional Finance Department and Infrastructure and Industrial Development Department during this time. Born in Chandigarh on February 15, 1959, he holds a doctorate in ancient history as well aa a degree engineering and an MBA.
Over the years he has held multiple administrative posts in the state as well as central administration, also serving as the chairperson of Udyog Bandhu, divisional commissioner of the Lucknow division, additional secretary in the Department of Ex-servicemen Welfare of the Ministry of Defence and more.
62-year-old Pandey will demit office in February 2024, following the age criteria guiding post of the election commissioner. With the next Lok Sabha polls likely to be announced in March 2024, this in turn means that he is unlikely to be involved. The next parliamentary polls could be held under the watch of Kumar.
There will however be several state elections during his tenure, including that of Uttar Pradesh. The poll panel will have its full strength of three members when UP, Punjab, Goa, Manipur and Uttarakhand go to polls early next year.
(With inputs from agencies)
