Navin Chawla, the former chief election commissioner (CEC), passed away on Saturday at an age of 79. Notably, his removal from the poll panel was recommended in 2009 over allegations of bias. Chawla’s death was confirmed by former CEC, SY Quraishi, who said, “He passed away this morning at Apollo Hospital”, adding that he seemed cheerful when they last met. Earlier, Quraishi told news agency PTI that Chawla had informed that he was admitted to hospital for a brain surgery.
In his post on X, Quraishi said, “Sad to know about passing on of Shri Navin Chawla, former Chief Election Commissioner of India. May his soul rest in peace.”
Chawla served as the election commissioner (EC) between 2005 and 2009, and then chief election commissioner from April 2009 to July 2010. Moreover, Chawla had a controversial tenure in the poll body, as the BJP, the then opposition party, accused him of being biased.
In 2009, CEC N Gopalaswami recommended to the government to remove Chawla, who was an election commissioner at the time.
The recommendation, on which the government did not act, was based on a petition filed by the BJP which complained against Chawla’s “partisan” functioning.
In 2006, then leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, LK Advani, and 204 MPs submitted a petition to then President APJ Abdul Kalam, seeking the removal of Chawla as an election commissioner for alleged partisanship. The BJP also took the matter to the Supreme Court.
Born on July 30, 1945, Chawla did his schooling from The Lawrence School, Sanawar, before moving to St Stephen’s College here. He was assigned a number of responsibilities during the course of his civil service career.
Although there were occasional stints in other Union Territories, his work life remained largely in Delhi. He became a Union secretary before being appointed an EC. He oversaw the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.
(With inputs from PTI)
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