Meet Achal Kumar Joti, an experienced hand at poll body's helm

The new CEC earned PM Narendra Modi's trust early on when the latter was CM of Gujarat

Achal Kumar Joti, the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and a 1975 batch IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre, earned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trust early on when the latter was chief minister of that state.

His aggressive follow-up of the Modi administration’s one-day, one-district plan, wherein senior officers were mandated to visit talukas to check on citizen grouses, is believed to have majorly impressed the then CM.

Joti served almost all of his working life in Gujarat and went on central deputation only twice — one of these as chairman of Kandla Port Trust was also spent in Gujarat. After serving as the state government’s chief secretary for three years, Joti retired in early 2013. He was then appointed state vigilance commissioner, thereby still serving in his home state till mid-2015. It was then that he was made central election commissioner, one of the three-member panel which he now heads. Though known to keep a low-key profile, Joti is not known to mince words or procrastinate on tasks. His former bureaucrat colleagues recall him as task and detail oriented. One of them says he’d never hesitate in accepting challenging assignments, something likely to come in handy as CEC. 

The administrative experience has been quite varied — collector of three districts, industries secretary, head of the Sardar Sarovar Nigam, of four other state corporations, finance secretary and more.  

Joti has taken over from Nasim Zaidi at a time when the country is heading for presidential and vice-presidential elections. Later this year, he will also oversee legislative Assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. That would end his relatively short tenure — he’d reach the 65-year limit in January 2018. 

His grit was evident when Joti, unlike his co-poll panel member, O P Rawat, did not recuse himself from all EC cases related to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the wake of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accusing them both of bias. At that time, the Commission was hearing a case against 21 AAP legislators for allegedly holding offices of profit.

A keen observer of facts and details, Joti is known to ask tough questions, say ex-colleagues. He’s also known as a team player. As election commissioner, Joti has already overseen state Assembly elections in Bihar, UP, Bengal, Goa and Tamil Nadu, among others. It’s interesting that overseeing the one in Gujarat is likely to be the last major task for him.