Navin Chawla, trailblazer for third gender voting rights and former CEC, passes away at 79

Former chief election commissioner (CEC) Navin Chawla, who oversaw the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, passed away in Delhi on Saturday. He was 79. Navin Chawla was known for ushering in a key reform for third gender voters.

Condoling the passing of Navin Chawla, the Election Commission said he led many reforms, including enabling third gender voters to exercise a preference to vote in a new category of 'Other', instead of being compelled to vote as 'Male' or 'Female'.

The poll body recalled in a statement that Chawla as the 16th CEC advocated for constitutional reforms to bring on par the process of removal of election commissioners with that of the CEC.

"His leadership and commitment to the electoral process will continue to inspire us at the Election Commission of India," the statement said.

Navin Chawla, a retired 1969-batch IAS officer of Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre, assumed office as an election commissioner on May 16, 2005, and served in that role till April 20, 2009, after which he served as chief election commissioner till July 29, 2010.

Navin Chawla had a controversial tenure in the poll body, with the then opposition BJP accusing him of being partisan.

In 2009, CEC N Gopalaswami recommended to the government to remove Chawla, who was an election commissioner at the time.

The recommendation, on which the government did not act, was based on a petition filed by the BJP which complained against Chawla's "partisan" functioning.

In 2006, the then leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, L K Advani, and 204 MPs submitted a petition to the then president APJ Abdul Kalam, seeking the removal of Chawla as an election commissioner for alleged partisanship.

The BJP also took the matter to the Supreme Court.

Born on July 30, 1945, Chawla did his schooling from The Lawrence School, Sanawar, before moving to St Stephen's College here.

He was assigned a number of responsibilities during the course of his civil service career.

Although there were occasional stints in other union territories, his work life remained largely in Delhi.

He became a Union secretary before being appointed an EC. He oversaw the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.

Navin Chawla was also known as the biographer of Mother Teresa. The biography titled "Mother Teresa" was first published in the UK in 1992, and has seen many translations and editions since then.

He also co-authored "Faith and Compassion: The Life and Work of Mother Teresa" with photographs by Raghu Rai. It was published in the UK in 1997.

As CEC, Chawla recommended to the law ministry a constitutional amendment to bring on par the process of removal of election commissioners with that of the CEC -- by impeachment by two-thirds of MPs present and voting.

Citing two previous episodes, including the demand by his predecessor for his removal, Chawla wrote to the then prime minister Manmohan Singh and urged the government for an early amendment to give protection to election commissioners.

The system for removal of CEC and ECs has remained unchanged though.