Prakash Rajpurohit named deputy election commissioner in bureaucratic reshuffle

Senior bureaucrat Prakash Rajpurohit was appointed deputy election commissioner in a major bureaucratic reshuffle by the Centre on Saturday.

Rajpurohit was most recently joint secretary in the Department of Defence Production. He earlier served as director in the Department of Economic Affairs, handling international investment treaties, and held district and tax administration postings in Rajasthan, including as Collector of Ajmer and Commissioner of Commercial Taxes.

A 2010-batch IAS officer from the Rajasthan cadre, he replaced Sanjay Kumar as deputy election commissioner, according to a Personnel Ministry order. His tenure extends until April 8, 2030.

Vivek Khare, a 1996-batch Indian Telecom Service officer, will serve as joint secretary at the National Testing Agency (NTA). His overall tenure runs until December 2, 2029.

With Khare’s appointment, four joint secretaries have now been appointed to the NTA since May 16. The other three are Anshuman Sharma, Anuja Bapat and Ruchita Vij. The appointments are part of the NTA’s restructuring, in line with the recommendations of the October 2024 Radhakrishnan committee, which called for strengthening the agency’s permanent manpower to improve accountability. The government subsequently created 16 new posts.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet cleared 27 appointments of IAS, IRS and other officers to joint secretary-level and equivalent posts. The orders cover institutions including the Election Commission, the National Health Authority, the NTA, NITI Aayog, the Central Vigilance Commission and the National Commission for Women.

Officers placed in the Ministry of Home Affairs include Ravi Shankar (IAS, Gujarat, 2007), Chittaranjan Dash (IRS, 1999), P. Manoj Kumar (ISS, 1998) and Abhishek Bhagotia (IAS, Assam-Meghalaya, 2007).

In other postings, Tanvi Sundriyal (IAS, Madhya Pradesh, 2010) has been named joint secretary in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, while Inderjeet Singh (IAS, Rajasthan, 2010) has been appointed to the Ministry of Culture. Navin Agarwal (IRPS, 1997) goes to the Department of Legal Affairs, while Sonia Pant (IES, 2001) becomes Adviser at NITI Aayog.