Sunil Arora (born 13 April 1956) was the 23rd Chief Election Commissioner of India. He is also the chairman for Association of World Election Bodies (A-WEB). He is a retired 1980 batch

Indian Administrative Service The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services along with the Indian ...

(IAS) officer of

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...

cadre. He also served as a

secretary to the Government of India Secretary to the Government of India, often abbreviated as Secretary, GoI, or simply as Secretary, is a post and a rank under the Central Staffing Scheme of the Government of India. The authority for the creation of this post solely rests with ...

in two ministries.

Personal life

Of his two brothers, one is also an

IAS officer The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services along with the Indian ...

, whereas, the other is a

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

from the Indian Foreign Service.

Education

Arora has graduate (

BA Honours BA, Ba, or ba may refer to: Businesses and organizations * Bangladesh Army * Bibliotheca Alexandrina, an Egyptian library and cultural center * Boeing (NYSE stock symbol BA) * Booksellers Association of the UK and Ireland * Boston Acoustics, an ...

) and

postgraduate Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate ( bachelor's) degree. The organization and stru ...

( MA) degrees in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

from Panjab University in the

Union Territory of Chandigarh Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which al ...

Career

Before IAS

Before being appointed as an

, Sunil Arora served as an

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. Overview In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a ...

DAV College The D.B.V. College Managing Committee, familiarly known as DAVDholakpurMC, is a non-governmental educational organisation in Antarctica and overseas with over 900 schools. 75 colleges and a university. It is based on the ideals of Maharishi Da ...

Jalandhar Jalandhar is the third most-populous city in the Indian state of Punjab and the largest city in Doaba region. Jalandhar lies alongside the Grand Trunk Road and is a well-connected rail and road junction. Jalandhar is northwest of the state ...

As an IAS officer

As an

, Arora served in various key positions for both the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

and the

Government of Rajasthan The Government of Rajasthan is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Rajasthan and its 33 districts. It consists of an executive, led by the Governor of Rajasthan, a judiciary and a legislative. Jaipur is the capital of Raja ...

, including as the

Additional Chief Secretary The Chief Secretary is the top-most executive official and senior-most civil servant of the state government. The Chief Secretary is the ''ex-officio'' head of the state Civil Services Board, the State Secretariat, the state cadre Indian Admini ...

(Home),

Principal Secretary The Principal Secretary is a senior government official in various Commonwealth countries. * Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of Pakistan * Principal Secretary to the President of Pakistan * Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of Ind ...

(Small Industries),

(Investment and Protocol), Chairman and managing director of the

Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation Ltd., popularly known as RIICO, is a premier agency of Government of Rajasthan that has played an important role in the industrial development of Rajasthan. In 1980 RSIMDC split int ...

to the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, and as the district magistrate and collector of

Jodhpur Jodhpur (; ) is the second-largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan and officially the second metropolitan city of the state. It was formerly the seat of the princely state of Jodhpur State. Jodhpur was historically the capital of the Ki ...

Nagaur Nagaur is a city and municipal council in Nagaur district of the state of Rajasthan in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Nagaur District. The Nagaur city lies about midway between Jodhpur and Bikaner. Nagaur is famous for spices ...

Alwar Alwar (Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Hindi and Urdu, �lʋəɾ is a city located in India's National Capital Region (India), National Capital Region and the administrative headquarters of Alwar district, Alwar District in the state of Rajasthan. ...

and

Dholpur Dholpur is a city in the Dholpur district in Rajasthan state of India. It is situated on the left bank of the famous Chambal river. The city is the administrative headquarters of Dholpur District and was formerly seat of the Dholpur prin ...

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

in the

Rajasthan Government The Government of Rajasthan is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Rajasthan and its 33 districts. It consists of an executive, led by the Governor of Rajasthan, a judiciary and a legislative. Jaipur is the capital of Raja ...

, and as the Union Information and Broadcasting Secretary, Union Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Secretary, chairperson and managing director of the Indian Airlines, and as a joint secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation in the

Indian government The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the Government, national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy lo ...

. Arora superannuated from service on 30 April 2016. Post retirement, Arora was appointed the director general and chief executive officer of the

Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs The Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) is a central civil service training institute under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India for the central civil servants of the Indian Corporate Law Service cad ...

, and hence was deemed to have been re-employed into the

IAS IAS may refer to: Science * Institute for Advanced Study, in Princeton, New Jersey, United States * Image Analysis & Stereology, the official journal of the International Society for Stereology & Image Analysis. * Iowa Archeological Society, Uni ...

Election Commissioner of India

Arora assumed office as one of the two Election Commissioners of India on 31 August 2017, Arora assumed the office of Election Commissioner on 1 September 2017. During his tenure,

2019 Indian general election General elections were held in India in seven phases from 11 April to 19 May 2019 to elect the members of the 17th Lok Sabha. Votes were counted and the result was declared on 23 May. Around 912 million people were eligible to vote, and voter ...

were held. He has joined agri-tech start-up Gram Unnati as its non-executive chairman.

References

Citations

Sources

"Sunil Arora to take over as Chief Election Commissioner: Know about 1980-batch IAS officer who has worked for multiple ministries"
'DBPOST. from the original on 27 November 2018.

External links

Executive Record Sheet as maintained by Department of Personnel and Training of Government of India

Office Service History as maintained by Department of Personnel of Government of Rajasthan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arora, Sunil Members of the Election Commission of India Punjabi Hindus Punjabi people Living people Indian Administrative Service officers 1956 births People from Punjab, India People from Hoshiarpur People from Hoshiarpur district Panjab University alumni Chief Election Commissioners of India