 | Thisbiography of a living personneeds additionalcitations forverification. Please help by addingreliable sources.Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced orpoorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentiallylibelous. Find sources: "N. Gopalaswami" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(November 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
N. Gopalaswami | |
|---|---|
.jpg) N. Gopalaswami taking over as the Election Commissioner in New Delhi on 8 February 2004 | |
| 15thChief Election Commissioner of India | |
| In office 30 June 2006 – 20 April 2009 | |
| President | Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Pratibha Patil |
| Prime Minister | Manmohan Singh |
| Preceded by | Brij Bihari Tandon |
| Succeeded by | Navin Chawla |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1944-04-21)21 April 1944 (age 81) |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Alma mater | Delhi University St. Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli |
| Occupation | RetiredIAS officer |
N. Gopalaswami (born 21 April 1944), served as 15thChief Election Commissioner of India (CEC) and has been awarded thePadma Bhushan in 2015. He is a 1966 batchIndian Administrative Services officer belonging to the Gujarat cadre. He took over the charge of CEC on 30 June 2006 and retired in April 2009. He is currently the president ofVivekananda Educational Society which runs a group of schools in and around Chennai.[1] He was appointed as the Chairman ofKalakshetra for a term of five years starting from 22 October 2014, until 2019.[2]
Gopalaswami is fromNeedamangalam,Tiruvarur district, Tamil Nadu. He attended school inMannargudi and his graduation inChemistry fromSt. Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli. Gopalaswamy is a post-graduate gold medalist in Chemistry fromDelhi University and is a diploma holder in Urban Development Planning fromUniversity of London.
Gopalaswami joined theIndian Administrative Service in 1966 and worked in various capacities inGujarat. From 1967 to 1992, he held various top-level posts including that of the managing director, Gujarat Communication and Electronics Limited; as member (administration and purchase) in the Gujarat Electricity Board; secretary to Government (science & technology) in technical education and Secretary, Department of Revenue.[citation needed]
Earlier he was district magistrate in the districts ofKutch andKheda; municipal commissionerSurat; director of relief; director of higher education and joint secretary (Home Department), Government of Gujarat.[citation needed]
Gopalaswami served theGovernment of India between 1992 and 2004. Prior to his appointment in theElection Commission of India, he was theUnion Home Secretary and prior to that, he held the post of Secretary in the Department of Culture and Secretary General in theNational Human Rights Commission.[citation needed]
Gopalaswami had also worked as an adviser (education) in thePlanning Commission of India, joint secretary, department of electronics, in charge of the software development and industry promotion division and also the head ofSoftware Technology Park of India (STPI) Society and SATCOMM India Society.[citation needed]
Gopalaswami was appointed as a Chancellor for Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, Deemed University,Tirupati on 21 October 2015 for a term of five years.[citation needed]
During his tenure as theChief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami on 31 January 2009 sent his recommendation for removal of Election CommissionerNavin Chawla to thePresident of India.[3] He alleged that Chawla had discharged his duties as Election Commissioner in a partisan manner, seeking to further the interests of "one party." The CEC report contended that Chawla would take breaks during crucial meetings and secretly talk to functionaries of the Congress party and leak confidential details of the Election Commission.[4] Chawla is also reported to have opposed the Election Commission's notice toSonia Gandhi for her accepting foreign honours from Belgium.[5]
N Gopalaswami's recommendation against Chawla has been politically controversial.[6] However, the Indian government led by Congress Party (to which Chawla is accused of being favourable), rejected the CEC recommendation against Chawla on 1 March 2009. Thereafter, Navin Chawla took over as CEC of India on 20 April 2009 and concluded the2009 General Elections to theParliament of India.[citation needed]
N Gopalaswami moved toSupreme Court in April 2012 alleging a "communal conspiracy" behind the rejection of Army chief GeneralVK Singh's claim for revision of his date of birth. The PIL, filed by retired Navy chiefL Ramdas, former chief election commissioner N Gopalaswami, three senior former Army officials and others, said that ex-Army chief JJ Singh, currently the governor of Arunachal Pradesh, masterminded "Operation Moses" to clear the way for Lieutenant Gen Bikram Singh to succeed GenVijay Kumar Singh(missing reference, likely an incorrect conspiracy theory).
When the Election Commission started the process of delimitations of constituencies, he (as CEC) suggested thatGoogle maps be used for the arduous exercise. Gopalaswami played a key role in obtaining a grant of Rs 5 crore (Rs 50 million) fromUNESCO for the preservation ofVedas, the ancientHindu scriptures.[7]
