(MENAFN- Live Mint) Former chief election commissioner (CEC) Navin Chawla, who oversaw the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, passed away in Delhi on Saturday. He was 79. Navin Chawla was known for ushering in a key reform for third gender voters.
Condoling the passing of Navin Chawla, the Election Commission said he 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 poll body recalled in a statement that Chawla as the 16th CEC advocated for constitutional reforms to bring on par the process of removal of election commissioners with that of the CEC.
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"His leadership and commitment to the electoral process will continue to inspire us at the Election Commission of India," the statement said.
Navin Chawla, a retired 1969-batch IAS officer of Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre, assumed office as an election commissioner on May 16, 2005, and served in that role till April 20, 2009, after which he served as chief election commissioner till July 29, 2010.
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Navin Chawla had a controversial tenure in the poll body, with the then opposition BJP accusing him of being partisan.
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, the then leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, L K Advani , and 204 MPs submitted a petition to the then president APJ Abdul Kalam, seeking the removal of Chawla as an election commissioner for alleged partisanship.
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