Navin Chawla

Navin Chawla was invited on 16 February 2015 to distribute 'Smart Canes' to visually impaired students of Delhi University, during the course of the Antardhwani festival. An important part of the festival that mattered greatly to the cause of disability, was distribution of "smart canes" to the first batch of visually impaired students. By June, it was hoped to distribute these canes to all those suffering from visual disability, including students and teachers alike, numbering about 200.

Chawla is best known for his biography of Mother Teresa and for conducting the 2009 general elections, despite concerns about his leanings towards the Congress Party. Action was taken against alleged malpractice by Congress governments in Rajasthan, Assam and Andhra Pradesh and the Congress-Allied government in Tamil Nadu. According to his family, Chawla was deeply influenced by Mother Teresa and decided not to resign from the civil service in 1997 in accordance with her advice.

Chawla is an Indian Administrative Service officer from the class of 1969. He rose to the highest rank of Secretary to the Government of India. He served as a magistrate and later commissioner of the Union Territory of Delhi. He was appointed the first Chairman of the Delhi Vidyut (Electricity) Board. He was appointed Election Commissioner in 2005, succeeding B. B. Tandon (who was promoted to Chief Election Commissioner of India) and helped pioneer the open skies policy as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting [4] ( 1992–96 ). Chawla was appointed India's 16th Chief Election Commissioner on 21 April 2009. He conducted the General Election of 2009. He wrote Mother Teresa's best selling official biography, Mother Teresa.

On 31 January 2009, Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami unusually and without consulting the full Commission or Commissioner Quraishi received a small NDA delegation in his private chamber. Based on that, sent his recommendation about Chawla's removal as election commissioner to the President of India. Based on that the CEC alleged that Chawla had discharged his duties as election commissioner in a partisan manner, seeking to further the interests of "one party". The CEC alleged that Chawla had shared some information about the election commission to Congress Party officials. He is also reported to have opposed the election commission's notice to Sonia Gandhi for accepting honours from Belgium. Chawla and Quraishi in a two-to-one majority judgment had dismissed the complaint against Sonia Gandhi.

The CEC, N. Gopalaswam's recommendation against Chawla, was in itself seen as controversial by several eminent jurists including Fali Nariman. and it was rejected by the President of India. Chawla became CEC of India on 20 April 2009, and concluded the 2009 Indian Parliamentary Election.

In order to stall Chawla becoming the CEC, two BJP lawyers and office bearers tried to petition a local Jaipur court for an FIR against Chawla and senior officials of the government of Rajasthan about the allotment of land to Chawla's trusts in Jaipur by the Jaipur Development Authority in 2000. The court declined to order the filing of an FIR; in an order dated 10 February 2009, the Court said it was satisfied by a Police investigation that there was nothing wrong. The Court dismissed the complaint. . The Shah Commission, an independent commission headed by former Chief Justice of India Jayantilal Chhotalal Shah which investigated atrocities during the Emergency, said in its final report that Chawla was "unfit to hold any public office which demands an attitude of fair play and consideration for others". The Delhi High Court ( Justice TPS Chawla) however dismissed the Report of the Shah Commission [The Honble Justice TPS Chawla judgement, High Court of Delhi, Criminal Original Jurisdiction, Criminal Misc ( Main). Number 540 of 1978 New Delhi, Dated 7 November 1978.]

In March 2006 the National Democratic Alliance presented the President of India, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, with a memorandum for his removal signed by over 200 MPs. The memorandum questioned his impartiality in light of alleged links with the Indian National Congress. This was rejected by the Government.

Apprehensive about Chawla's alleged links to the Gandhi Family, in May 2006 Jaswant Singh, opposition leader in Rajya Sabha, appealed to the Supreme Court of India for Chawla's removal as election commissioner because of his lifelong association with Congress politicians and the MPLADS controversy. The Chief Election Commissioner, N Gopalaswami suo moto, without consulting the full Commission or Election Commissioner Quraishi, filed an affidavit with the Supreme Court that he had the power to remove an election commissioner (EC). Following upon this, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) then withdrew its petition. The Supreme Court ruled, "We are allowing withdrawal of the petitions while keeping open all questions [raised in the petitions]. They can make representation to the CEC, who will decide such representation in accordance with law. We are not expressing any opinion on merits".

Navin Chawla (born 30 July 1945) is a retired Indian civil servant and writer, who served as 16th Chief Election Commissioner of India. Four phases (out of five) of the Indian general election to Loksabha were executed under his supervision in April and May 2009.

Chawla was born on 30 July 1945 in New Delhi. He studied at the Lawrence School, Sanawar, Himachal Pradesh from 1953 to 1961 (when he received his Senior School Certificate), and received a Government of India scholarship for his first two years at the Lawrence School. Chawla received a B.A. (Hons.) in history from St. Stephen's College, Delhi in 1966 and a B.A. (Hons.) in history from London University in 1967. He received a diploma in social administration from the London School of Economics in 1968. Chawla was appointed a Fellow of Queen Elizabeth House at Oxford University in 1996.