Former Maharashtra Chief Secretary J S Saharia Friday took over as the new State Election Commissioner. Saharia, a 1978-batch IAS officer, had attained superannuation in July 2014. He succeeds former bureaucrat Neela Satyanarayan who was appointed the State Election Commissioner of Maharashtra in 2009 and retired on July 5 this year. As the SEC, a constitutional post, Saharia will be responsible for conducting local elections in the state. Saharia’s appointment as SEC was delayed as the file was sent back to the government once by Governor Chennamaneni Vidyasagar Rao, who later cleared the appointment.
