Mechanical engineer from IIT-Roorkee and former Haryana CS, Vivek Joshi now election commissioner

New Delhi: A mechanical engineer from IIT-Roorkie who has served as the chief secretary of Haryana, Vivek Joshi on Wednesday assumed charge as an election commissioner.

At 58, Joshi is one of the youngest members to be a part of the poll panel.

According to the law governing the appointment of CEC and ECs, the chief election commissioner and other election commissioners will hold office for a term of six years from the date on which they assume office or till they attain the age of 65 years, "whichever is earlier".

Born on May 21, 1966, Joshi will turn 65 in May 2031, but as per the law, his term in the poll panel will end on February 18 of that year.

While CEC Gyanesh Kumar will demit office on January 26, 2029, the other election commissioner, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu will retire in July 2028.

Joshi could possibly supervise the conduct of the Lok Sabha elections in 2029 as the next CEC.

Joshi is a 1989 batch officer of the Indian Administrative Service of the Haryana cadre.

He has served as the chief secretary of Haryana and Secretary, Department of Personnel and Training and Department of Financial Services in the central government.

Earlier in his career, he served as the Registrar General and Census Commissioner and as member secretary of the Fifth State Finance Commission of Haryana.

Hailing from Uttar Pradesh, Joshi is a mechanical engineer from IIT-Roorkee. He has a Masters in International Business from IIFT, New Delhi, an MA and a Ph.D. in International Economics from the Graduate Institute, Geneva, Switzerland.