New Delhi, Apr 20: Election Commissioner Navin Chawla took over as the Chief Election Commissioner on Monday.

Navin Chawla, who succeeded N. Gopalaswami, will hold charge till July 29, 2010. He took over in the presence of Gopalaswami and the third Election Commissioner, S. Y. Quraishi.

On the occasion, Gopalaswami wished the best of tenure to Chawla.

“Today, I take leave from all of you. I wish Mr. Chawla the best of tenure and a successful completion of the election,” Gopalaswami told mediapersons here.

Chawla, who will be taking over in the midst of the five-phased Lok Sabha elections, will oversee four phases of the polls.

Chawla, an IAS officer of the 1969 batch, had recently been in the news as the Chief Election Commissioner of India had unilaterally recommended his removal from the Election Commission on grounds of partisanship.

The recommendation was rejected by the President on March 1, 2009.

The government has appointed Veeravalli Sundaram Sampath as third election commissioner. (ANI)