THE NEWS FREEDOM
NEW DELHI, MARCH 14
Retired IAS officers Gyanesh Kumar and SS Sandhu were appointed as new election commissioners on Thursday by a panel chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress party’s leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury told the Media. The decision comes days after the shock resignation of election commissioner Arun Goel ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
The appointments are the first by the panel which was reconstituted in line with the new law governing the appointment of election commissioners.
Born in 1963, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu is a 1988 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Uttarakhand cadre. A graduate of Medicine from Amritsar’s Government Medical College, Mr Sandhu also holds a Master’s Degree in History from Guru Nanak Dev University.
Sandhu previously served as the Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand and before that, he held key positions such as Chairman of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
He has also had stints as additional secretary in the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, and as secretary in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.
Sandhu holds a law degree and has authored papers on topics including ‘Urban Reforms’ and ‘Municipal Management and Capacity Building’. He was conferred with the President’s Medal for contributions while serving as Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation in Ludhiana.