Sushil Chandra is the 24th Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of the Election Commission of India. He was appointed as the CEC on 12 April 2021, and he took charge on 13 April 2021. Earlier, he was a part of the three-member panel of the Election Commission.
Wiki/Biography
Sushil Chandra was born on Wednesday, 15 May 1957 (age 64 years; as of 2021). His zodiac sign is Taurus. After completing his schooling, Sushil Chandra went to IIT Roorkee and earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1977. He then went to DAV College, Dehradun to pursue an LLB degree.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 6″
Hair Colour:Â Black
Eye Colour:Â Black
Family
There is not much information about his family.
Sushil Chandra with his wife at IITF
Career
Belonging to the 1980 batch of the Indian Revenue Services; Sushil Chandra has served on several posts in the Income Tax Department for 39 years. Sushil served as Director of Investigation in Mumbai and then moved to Gujarat to serves as the Director-General of Investigation in CBDT. In November 2016, Sushil Chandra was appointed as the Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). On 15 February 2019, Sushil Chandra was appointed as the Election Commissioner in the Election Commission of India, and on 18 February 2020, he became a member of the Delimitation Commission that was set up for the Jammu and Kashmir UT. In June 2019, Sushil was invited as an International Election Observer during the Presidential Election process of Kazakhstan. He has also attended training sessions on management in various institutes like IMF, IIM Bengaluru, and Wharton University, Pennsylvania.
Sushil Chandra with the appointment letter as the Election Commissioner
Facts/Trivia
- The Lok Sabha elections in 2019 were organized and conducted under the supervision of Sushil Chandra, Sunil Arora, and Ashok Lavasa. Sushil Chandra also conducted the elections in the state of Maharashtra, Haryana, and Jharkhand in 2019. In 2020, Bihar became the first state to conduct elections during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Former CEC, Sunil Arora with Sushil Chandra and Ashok Lavasa
- Sushil Chandra took the charge as the Chief Election Commissioner on 13 April 2021, and his term will end on 14 May 2022. Under Sushil’s supervision, assembly elections will be held in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Uttarakhand, and Manipur.
- Sushil Chandra encouraged curbing the use of money during election campaigns. He suggested the deployment of Special Expenditure Observers, and other agencies to keep a check on during the campaigns.
- While contesting the elections during the COVID-19 pandemic, Sushil Chandra introduced the usage of IT applications in the process which helped the candidate to file the nomination papers online. He also introduced the facility of postal ballot to specific categories of senior citizens, persons with disabilities, essential services personnel, and also for COVID-19 patients.
- In July 2019, Sushil Chandra was invited to the 18th Cambridge Conference on Electoral Democracy. The conference took place in the Commonwealth Trinity College, Cambridge. He also went to the 3rd Plenary Assembly of Global Network Electoral Justice conference in Mexico, and he attended the 2nd Electoral Studies Program Conference in Bali in December 2019.
Sushil Chandra (orange tie) at the Electoral Studies Program Conference in Bali
- In 2017, Sushil Chandra launched the operation ‘Operation Clean Money’ with the efforts to clear the illegal wealth and black money from the country. He also signed treaties with Switzerland to promote transparency between India and Switzerland’s banking services.
- Sushil Chandra’s brother-in-law, Arvind Goel was under the scrutiny of the Uttar Pradesh government for buying and selling almost 200 acres of land using black money in Moradabad. The transactions for these pieces of the land took place between 2004 to 2017. Along with Arvind, his brother, Vipin Goel was also involved and allegedly bought these lands under the name of 20 shell companies.