Sushil Chandra, the chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), has been appointed as the new Election Commissioner on Thursday.

A 1980-batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) official and an IIT alumnus, Chandra has recently retired from the CBDT, who was given a one-year extension till May 31, this year. His appointment came ahead of the 2019 general election, which is due by May.

Chandra would join the three-member poll panel led by the chief election commissioner, Sunil Arora. Former bureaucrat Ashok Lavasa is one of the election commissioners.

The commission is expected to announce the date and schedule for the Lok Sabha and the state assembly polls over the course of the next few weeks.

Election Commissioners are appointed for a tenure of six years, or hold the office till the age of 65 - whichever is earlier.

Satya Pinisetty, Joint Commissioner of Income Tax, tweeted about Chandra's appointment. "Sushil Chandra is the second IRS officer after T. S. Krishnamurthy to be appointed as Election Commissioner. Krishnamurthy went on to become Chief Election Commissioner later," he tweeted. #casansaar (Source - BusinessTdoay)