H.S. Brahma likely to be appointed new CEC

Chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath will demit office Thursday after serving nearly six years in the poll panel and is likely to be succeeded by H.S. Brahma.

Sources said Brahma, the senior among the two election commissioners, is likely to replace Sampath.

Sampath, who was regarded as low profile compared to his predecessors such as T.N. Seshan, M.S. Gill and S.Y. Quraishi, joined the poll panel in April 2009 as election commissioner and was elevated as CEC in June 2012.

His tenure saw the poll panel conducting assembly elections in every state at least once. The poll panel, during his tenure, also conducted the presidential election, the vice-presidential election and two Lok Sabha elections.

Sampath, an IAS officer, was deputy commissioner of several coastal districts in Andhra Pradesh at the start of his administrative career.

His term as CEC also saw improvement in poll percentage in several states, including Jammu and Kashmir.