Arun Goel, former IAS officer working with the Ministry of Heavy Industries, has been appointed the new Election Commissioner of India. His appointment was confirmed by the Indian government in a press release on Saturday.
“The president is pleased to appoint Shri Arun Goel, IAS (Retd.) (PB: 1985) as the Election Commissioner in the Election Commission with effect from the date he assumes the office,” the release said.
Goel’s appointment comes just eleven days before the Assembly elections in Gujarat.
Who is Arun Goel?
Arun Goyal is a 1985 batch IAS officer who retired from the Ministry Heavy Industries of on November 18, 2022, just a day before he became the Election Commissioner of India. He has an electrical engineering degree from Delhi College of Engineering (1980), and he earned his PGDM from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmadabad, in 1982.
He also has post-graduate degrees from Glasgow Caledonian University, UK, and a degree in Economics and Development Management from Himachal Pradesh University.
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He spent 34 years in the government as an IAS officer holding many important portfolios such as being the Additional Secretary in the GST Council, heading the Project Monitoring Group (PMG) at the PMO, Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce (1994-1998), and the Head of Financial Intelligence Unit-India in the Ministry of Finance (2006- 2010).
His most recent role was as the secretary of the Ministry of Heavy Industries. He was supposed to retire on December 31, 2022, when he would have turned 60 years old. Kamran Rizvi, who was appointed last month as the Officer on Special Duty in the Heavy Industries Ministry, will take up Goel’s position in the ministry.
