Former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Navin Chawla passed away on Saturday at the age of 79. His demise was confirmed by former CEC S.Y. Quraishi, who shared that Chawla had recently undergone brain surgery.
Speaking to PTI, Quraishi recalled meeting Chawla just 10 days ago, during which he had mentioned his upcoming hospital admission. “He passed away this morning at Apollo Hospital,” Quraishi said, adding that Chawla had appeared cheerful during their last meeting. An official from the Election Commission also confirmed Chawla’s passing. Expressing his condolences on social media platform X, Quraishi wrote, “Sad to know about the passing of Shri Navin Chawla, former Chief Election Commissioner of India. May his soul rest in peace.”
A distinguished bureaucrat, Chawla served as Election Commissioner from 2005 to 2009 before being appointed as the Chief Election Commissioner, a position he held from April 2009 to July 2010.
Apart from being a retired Indian civil servant, Chawla was also a writer shot to fame with his widely recognised biography of Mother Teresa. He oversaw the execution of four out of five phases of the 2009 Indian general elections to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament. Under his leadership, action was taken against reported malpractices by Congress-led governments in Rajasthan, Assam, and Andhra Pradesh, as well as the Congress-allied administration in Tamil Nadu.