According to sources the man whose name will forever be synonymous with electoral reforms in india, TN Seshan, passed away on sunday and at the age of 86, Seshan passed away at his residence in Chennai. He was born as Tirunellai Narayana Iyer Seshan on december 15, 1932 in Thirunellai, palakkad district, kerala, TN Seshan was widely known and remembered for his electoral reforms. Furthermore he was the Chief election Commissioner of india from 1990 to 1996 and played a major role in drastically ending electoral malpractices in the country.
Accordingly a 1955 batch IAS officer, he served in various capacities before he was appointed as Secretary of Defence in 1988 when Rajiv gandhi was Prime Minister. Hence thereafter, he was promoted to cabinet secretary, the highest position a civil servant can get, a year later in 1989 and apparently when VP Singh came to power, Seshan was sent to the Planning Commission.
Moreover Seshan went ahead and appointed special election observers in all states. These observers would watch the election process and 'check for incendiary campaign speeches, voter intimidation, vote stealing and other tactics often associated with electoral violence'. Perhaps in 2018, while hearing a plea ahead of the madhya pradesh assembly elections on bogus voters, the supreme court remembered the former election Commissioner, saying that the credibility that the election commission had gained when it was headed by TN Seshan should be seen in the conduct of the upcoming polls.
