Election Commissioner Sunil Arora: Quiet but decisive

Arora tells A K Bhattacharya why he still can't come to terms with the Air India-Indian Airlines merger and that voters are too smart to be won over by freebies before the polls

Sunil Arora, the newly appointed election commissioner, says he has no preference for any restaurant when I ask him for his choice where Business Standard could host him for lunch. But he quickly adds, humming and hawing a little, that he would like to avoid India International Centre simply because he wishes to have his meal and conversation with me without being interrupted or accosted by some of his former colleagues in the government. Arora retired from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) just about 18 months ago and I fully sympathise with him.

Knowing that he hails from Punjab, though his