Chandigarh, 19 February (HS): Haryana cadre IAS officer Vivek Joshi, who was appointed Election Commissioner by the Government of India, has left the charge of Chief Secretary. He will serve in the three-member polling body along with Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Prakash and fellow EC Sukhbir Singh Sandhu.

There is a buzz in the Secretariat before leaving the charge of Chief Secretary on Monday night, he has applied for VRS.

Before leaving for Delhi, Vivek Joshi said that even though he came to Haryana for a very short time, it is a matter of pride for him to come to his home state. Regarding his short tenure, he said that the Swachh Haryana Mission started in December was his initiative. For the first time in 50 years, cleaning was done in the government offices of the state and he got the opportunity to implement the learnings from the Center.

Regarding the new responsibility and VRS, he said that whatever decision the government takes will be acceptable to him. Vivek Joshi is the third Haryana cadre officer to be appointed to the Election Commission of India.

The first was 1971 batch officer SY Qureshi, who later became the Chief Election Commissioner. He was followed by 1980 batch officer Ashok Lavasa, who resigned soon after his appointment.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar