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Nasim Zaidi Appointed As The New Chief Election Commissioner Of India

President Pranab Mukherjee Appoints Nasim Zaidi As The New Chief Election Commissioner
Director General of Indian Civil Aviation, Nasim Zaidi (R) talks with the US Ambassador to India, Peter Burleigh, during US-India Aviation Summit in New Delhi on November 17, 2011. India and US signed two Aviation Safety Agreements between the US Federal Aviation Administration and India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation. AFP PHOTO/RAVEENDRAN (Photo credit should read RAVEENDRAN/AFP/Getty Images)
RAVEENDRAN via Getty Images
Director General of Indian Civil Aviation, Nasim Zaidi (R) talks with the US Ambassador to India, Peter Burleigh, during US-India Aviation Summit in New Delhi on November 17, 2011. India and US signed two Aviation Safety Agreements between the US Federal Aviation Administration and India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation. AFP PHOTO/RAVEENDRAN (Photo credit should read RAVEENDRAN/AFP/Getty Images)

NEW DELHI — Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi was today appointed as the next Chief Election Commissioner.

President Pranab Mukherjee has cleared his appointment, a Law Ministry statement said. He will assume charge with effect from April 19, after the incumbent Hari Shankar Brahma demits office on April 18 upon his retirement. Zaidi will have a tenure up to July, 2017 when he attains the age of 65. In appointing Zaidi as the CEC, government has carried on with the convention of elevating the senior-most EC.

Incidentally, he will be the only one left in the three-member constitutional body as the others have retired.

The government will also soon set in motion the process of appointing two Election Commissioners to fill up the vacancies in the three-member poll body.

Government is yet to appoint an EC after V S Sampath retired as CEC in January and Brahma was elevated in his place.

An EC or a CEC has a tenure of six years in office or 65 years of age, whichever is earlier. A 1976 batch IAS officer, Zaidi has worked in the Civil Aviation Ministry for a long time.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.