Election Commissioner of India Ashok Lavasa is set to assume the role of the Vice-President of the Asian Development Bank, which is based out of the Philippines, as per the Indian Express report.

Lavasa is going to make a premature exit from the Election Commission to join the bank. His term was supposed to end in October 2022, two years from now.

As the commissioner, Lavasa would have covered Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur, and Goa, among other states, if he had not taken the voluntary exit.

Lavasa will be succeeded by Sushil Chandra. And, he will succeed vice president Diwakar Gupta, who is in charge of private sector operations, and public-private partnerships.

Lavasa is the second Election Commissioner who has dropped out of the services to join an international role. Earlier, Chief Election Commissioner Nagender Singh had put forth his resignation paper before finishing his term to be the judge of the International Court of Justice.

According to sources of the Indian Express, Lavasa’s appointment to the ADB was finalized with the concurrence of the union government.

Lavasa joined as Election Commissioner on January 23, 2018. He is a retired IAS officer of the Haryana cadre (1980 batch).

Lavasa controversy

Lavasa came to limelight last year during the General Elections 2019 when he opposed the clean chits given to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah on charges about violating the code of conduct during the elections.

Soon after BJP claimed power again, Lavasa’s family, including his wife, son, and sister came to the radar of the Income Tax Department for alleged non-declaration of income and disproportionate assets. The family members had denied allegations made by the IT department.

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