Sunil Arora:
- Sunil Arora, a former Indian Administrative Service (IAS), superannuated in 2016 as Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India. During the 36 years of his service, he served in several key positions, including chairman and managing director of Indian Airlines.
- He was appointed election commissioner in September 2017. He will have a nearly two-and-a-half-year tenure as CEC with 2019 General Elections to be conducted under his leadership.
Appointment of election commissioners:
- Election Commission of India is a permanent Constitutional Body.
- Setup: Originally the commission had only a Chief Election Commissioner. It currently consists of Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners.
- For the first time two additional Commissioners were appointed on 16th October 1989 but they had a very short tenure till 1st January 1990.
- Later, on 1st October 1993 two additional Election Commissioners were appointed.
- The concept of multi-member Commission has been in operation since then, with decision making power by majority vote.
- Appointment of Commissioners: The President appoints Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners.
- Tenure of Commissioners: They have tenure of six years, or up to the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. The Chief Election Commissioner can be removed from office only through impeachment by Parliament.
- Status: They enjoy the same status and receive salary and perks as available to Judges of the Supreme Court of India.
