The State government has appointed C. Partha Sarathi, a retired IAS officer, as the new State Election Commissioner (SEC). He will have a tenure of three years from the date of assumption of office.
Mr. Partha Sarathi succeeds V. Nagi Reddy, the first SEC of Telangana who held the office from November 2014 to November 2019. The post has been lying vacant since the completion of the term of Mr. Nagi Reddy. Mr. Partha Sarathi retired as Director-General of Environment Protection Training and Research Institute (EPTRI) on April 30 this year after attaining the age of superannuation.
The appointment of new SEC comes at a time when the scheduled time of elections to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), February 2021, is approaching fast. Besides, the new SEC would have handful of work following the GHMC elections too as the term of municipal corporations of Greater Warangal and Khammam and a few more municipalities would be getting completed. However, elections to all these urban local bodies would be completed over the next six months.
When contacted, Mr. Partha Sarathi told The Hindu that there would be some hectic activity in the State Election Commission over the next six months starting with the GHMC polls.
A masters in Agriculture (M.Sc. Agronomy) from the then Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University here, Mr. Partha Sarathi was selected to Group-I services in the State and began his administrative career as Revenue Divisional Officer at Vizianagaram in 1988 and later he was Executive Director of SC Corporation at Vizianagaram, ED SC Corporation at Nizamabad, DRO Adilabad and Project Director of DRDA at Adilabad till March 1999. In 1999 Mr. Partha Sarathi was selected to IAS and allocated 1993 batch under the State Civil Service (SCS) category. He was the Joint Collector of Anantapur for over four years during 1999-2003 and also served as JC at Warangal. He was posted District Collector at Karimnagar and was there for about two years.
Mr. Partha Sarathi is also one of the officers who held the post of Principal Secretary and Agriculture Production Commissioner for nearly five years during 2015-20. He was with EPTRI barely for two months before retirement. Apart from winning several awards, he was instrumental in the launch of Rythu Bandhu and Rythu Bima schemes and hosting the Asia Seed Congress in 2015 and ISTA Seed Congress in 2019, apart from other notable assignments in his administrative career.