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Former CEC Navin B Chawla, 79, dies at Delhi hospital
Navin B Chawla was appointed election commissioner in May 2005 and was elevated as chief election commissioner (CEC) in April 2009
NEW DELHI: Former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Navin B Chawla breathed his last at a Delhi hospital on Saturday. He was 79.
Chawla was appointed election commissioner in May 2005 and was elevated as chief election commissioner (CEC) in April 2009. He demitted office in July 2010, a statement issued by the Election Commission of India said, describing him as “a brilliant officer” of the 1969-batch Indian Administrative Service.
“During his tenure as CEC, ECI successfully conducted the General Election to the Lok Sabha in 2009 and General Elections to Legislative Assemblies in seven states,” the statement said.
He also led many reforms including enabling third gender voters to exercise a preference to vote in a new category of ‘Other’ instead of being compelled to vote as ‘Male’ or ‘Female’.
The commission recalled that Chawla also advocated for constitutional reforms to bring on par the process of removal of Election Commissioners with that of the CEC.
According to Article 324 (5) of the Constitution, the chief election commissioner can only be removed only through an impeachment process – like a judge of a constitutional court, but the election commissioner can be removed on the recommendations of the CEC. Chawla’s predecessor N Gopalaswami had unsuccessfully used this provision to remove him from the commission.
In his personal life, Chawla was a long-time associate of Mother Teresa and wrote an authorised biography on her life and work. The book, ‘Mother Teresa’ was published in 1992.
Chawla graduated from St. Stephen’s College in Delhi University and then went on to take another degree at School of Oriental and African Studies, London University. He then completed a diploma course in social administration at the London School of Economics in 1967-68.
