The Union government Tuesday chosen 1984-batch IAS officer Anup Chandra Pandey, the former chief secretary of Uttar Pradesh, as an election commissioner, taking the Election Commission of India to its full strength.

In a notification issued late Tuesday, the Union law ministry’s legislative department said, “…the President is pleased to appoint Shri Anup Chandra Pandey, IAS (Retd.) as the Election Commissioner with effect from the date he assumes the office.”

In 2018, Pandey had been handpicked by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to become the state’s chief secretary in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The move came at a time when Adityanath was believed to not have a tight grip on the administration — Pandey’s predecessor Rajiv Kumar was not considered Adityanath’s choice for the top post in the state - and the move signalled a shift from that.

The appointment restores the three-member commission to its full strength, which will now oversee the next set of crucial assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Manipur and Uttarakhand next year.

Pandey was handpicked by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to head the state bureaucracy on June 28, 2018. He retired in August 2019. He had served as the Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh under Adityanath and also as the Infrastructure and Industrial Development Commissioner of the state.
 

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