Who are the Chief Electoral Officers in the 5 states that went to polls? Check here

A critical tool that marks democracy in any country is free and fair elections, and for the largest democratic country in the world, India, with a population of 1.3 billion, a free, fair and systematic election remains an important exercise. To ensure this, Article 324 of the Indian Constitution lays down provisions for the functioning of the Election Commission of India (ECI). Article 324 states superintendence, direction and control of elections are to be vested in an Election Commission.

On January 8, the ECI, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra, announced the schedules for polling in five states. Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh, and Goa voted to elect their new government in February and March. With the results coming today, March 10, let's check out who are the Chief Electoral Officers of these five states.

Chief Electoral Officers

The chief electoral officer assists the Election Commission of India at the state level. He is appointed by the chief election commissioner in consultation with the state government. The Chief ELectoral Officers (CEO) of the five states that held Assembly elections of 2022 are listed below.

1. Goa

The CEO of Goa, IAS Kunal is assisting the ECI to carry out the Goa state Assembly election 2022. Monitoring the counting of votes, being held today, he posted pictures on his Twitter account.

2. Uttar Pradesh

Ajay Kumar Shukla is the CEO of Uttar Pradesh. With UP having 403 Assembly seats, the highest in India, the role of the CEO becomes important. Ajay Kumar says, "Election can not be viewed as an isolated event, but is a part of a holistic process for promoting democratic governance. Greater public information & outreach capacity, transparency, capacity building and empowerment of the citizens are the key areas that are being focussed upon by the Election Department."

3. Punjab

Dr S. Karuna Raju, IAS, is currently holding the chair of CEO in Punjab state that is seeing multi-cornered election this time. From his Twitter handle, the CEO Punjab posted a colourful image of counting centres in Punjab.

4. Manipur

In the northeastern state of Manipur, Rajesh Agarwal holds the chair of CEO. Agarwal, in a recent tweet, spoke about the security measures taken for the result day. He said, "Proper security measures undertaken including imposition of Sec 144 CrPC around the counting centres to ensure that peace and tranquillity is not disturbed and counting of votes is conducted smoothly. (sic)"

5. Uttarakhand

Sowjanya, a 2003 batch Indian Administrative Service officer from Karnataka is the current CEO of Manipur. Manipur has 60 seats in its state Legislative Assembly.