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Deepak Tiwari
Deepak Tiwari

New CEC

First MP bureaucrat to become CEC hails from backward Bundelkhand

o-p-rawat-presser-pti O.P. Rawat (left) with his predecessor A.K. Joti | PTI

As the newly-appointed Chief Election Commission of India, Omprakash Rawat faces the uphill task of conducting assembly elections to eight states this year. In a democracy that does not shy away from playing the politics of division and discrimination, Rawat, who joined the election commission in 2015, is someone who has been quite vocal about his opposition to such undemocratic practices in winning elections. 

He believes that "winning at any cost has led to undermining of the democracy". "In elections stakes are very high—either you get crown or you are dumped. Anybody standing for high office is natural but to win when you start resorting to all kinds of wrong, illegal, improper, unethical means. Then it becomes degenerating for the whole society and system," he told THE WEEK.

Born in the backward Bundelkhand region, the 1977-batch IAS officer, has become the first bureaucrat from Madhya Pradesh to become chief election commissioner.

Known for his honesty and 'rulebook style', Rawat came to limelight when he recused himself from the ‘Office of Profit’ cases of the AAP, after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal alleged that Rawat is close to MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Rawat instead was not in the good books of Chouhan who did not made him chief secretary despite his availability for the post. Rawat, however, had functioned as principal secretary to then chief minister Babulal Gour in 2004.

He also served as director of the public relations department in 1990 when the BJP was in power in MP and Sunderlal Patwa was chief minister.

He was selected as election commissioner in August 2015. He is the 22nd CEC of India.

Considered an upright officer, Rawat is known to be never fearful of giving his opinion on contentious issues, on which most may keep quiet. He was against holding polls in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh on separate dates yet he went with the decision of the commission after he made his views clear on the relevant file.

Rawat served as principal secretary to BJP chief minister Babulal Gour in 2004 in Madhya Pradesh. Yet was the 'most liked' bureaucrat by the Congress when it came to implementation of Forest Rights Act of the UPA government.

Rawat served as chairperson of Narmada Valley Development Authority (NVDA) where he vehemently opposed NGOs that did not allow the government to build dams and canals on the Narmada. Yet he admires activists of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) for fighting for the cause of the poor.

He got the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration for an innovative group initiative 'Recognition of Forest Rights'.

A democrat and a believer in the Constitution, Rawat has served as joint secretary in the Ministry of Defence and was later secretary in Government of India. In 1994, he was a United Nations election observer in South Africa overseeing the first post-apartheid elections. He has also served as collector in Narsinghpur and Indore.

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