Former CEC Navin Chawla Passes Away At 79, Ex-CEC Quraishi Says He Was Admitted To Hospital For Brain Surgery

Navin Chawla served as Election Commissioner from 2005-2009 and Chief Election Commissioner from 2009-2010.

Former CEC Navin Chawla.

Source : X

New Delhi: Former chief election commissioner (CEC) Navin Chawla is no more. He passed away on Saturday, February 1, according for another former CEC SY Quraishi. Chawla was 79 years old.

Taking to his X (formerly Twitter) handle, Quraishi wrote: "Sad to know about passing on of Shri Navin Chawla, former Chief Election Commissioner of India. May his soul rest in peace."

Sad to know about passing on of Shri Navin Chawla, former Chief Election Commissioner of India. May his soul rest in peace.

— Dr. S.Y. Quraishi (@DrSYQuraishi) February 1, 2025

Speaking to PTI, Quraishi said Chawla had told him that he would undergo a brain surgery, and that he had met the latter around 10 days ago after that. 

"He passed away this morning at Apollo Hospital," the former CEC said. Quraishi also said that Chawla was in a cheerful mood when they last met.

An Election Commission functionary also confirmed Chawla's death, according to the PTI report.

Chawla, a former bureaucrat, had been the election commissioner between 2005 and 2009, and then became the chief election commissioner in April 2009. He remained the CEC until July 2010 when his term ended as he turned 65, the constitutionally mandated age.

He was the CEC when the commission conducted the General Election to the Lok Sabha in April-May 2009. 

A 1969-batch IAS officer, Navin Chawla had a 35-year distinguished career across various challenging roles. He managed India’s largest consumer cooperative (Super Bazar), played a key role in India’s open sky telecasting policy as Joint Secretary in the Information & Broadcasting Ministry (1992-95), and served in the Home Ministry (1997) and as Chairman of Delhi’s Electricity Authority. Despite later political controversies, even the NDA government promoted him to Additional Secretary (2001), Special Secretary (2003), and finally Secretary (2003), reflecting his outstanding service record.

Chawla studied at the prestigious Lawrence School, Sanawar, Himachal Pradesh, from 1953 to 1961, where he received his Senior School Certificate. At the age of eight, he was awarded a Government of India Scholarship for his first two years at the school after a rigorous All-India Examination. He went on to study History at St. Stephen's College (1962-65) and earned a Bachelor's degree. He then pursued a second BA (Hons.) from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (1965-67), followed by a diploma in Social Administration from the London School of Economics (1968). He was also a Fellow at Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford University (1996-97).