Election Commissioner Om Prakash Rawat was on Sunday appointed as the next chief election commissioner succeeding A K Joti who retires tomorrow, the law ministry said.
The government also appointed former finance secretary Ashok Lavasa as an election commissioner.
The appointment of the election commissioner was made as a vacancy would have arisen in the three-member poll panel after the retirement of Joti on Monday.
Rawat is a retired 1977 batch IAS officer belonging to Madhya Pradesh cadre and is going to replace Joti, who was on July 4, 2017 appointed as the chief election commissioner succeeding Nasim Zaidi.
Rawat was the secretary in the ministry of heavy industries and public enterprises. In 1993, he served as a director in the defence ministry, reported News18.
During the post-apartheid elections in South Africa in 1994, Rawat was appointed United Nations election observer to oversee the process.
Apart from that, he has also served as principal secretary to the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh between 2004 and 2006.