Navin Chawla (30 July 1945 – 1 February 2025) was an Indian civil servant and writer, who served as 16th Chief Election Commissioner of India.

[2] Chawla is best known for his biography of Mother Teresa and for conducting the 2009 general elections, despite concerns about his leanings towards the Congress Party.

B. Tandon (who was promoted to Chief Election Commissioner of India) and helped pioneer the open-skies policy as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting [4] (1992–96).

The issue was first broached by students at KIIT Law School, Bhubaneswar and Asia College of Journalism, Chennai.

He believed that under-trials should be allowed to vote, especially as convicts could participate in the electoral process and even stand for election.

Chawla was Founder Chairman of the Jaipur-based Lala Chaman Lal Education Trust, called 'Darshan', which looks after disabled hearing-impaired children, and which had obtained MPLADS funds from Congress MPs Aimaduddin Khan and R. P. Goenka.

[15] The trust was allotted 6 acres (24,000 m2) of land by the Congress government in Rajasthan when Ashok Gehlot was Chief Minister.

Navin Chawla was invited on 16 February 2015 to distribute 'Smart Canes' to visually impaired students of Delhi University, during the course of the Antardhwani festival.

An important part of the festival that mattered greatly to the cause of disability was distribution of "smart canes" to the first batch of visually impaired students.

By June, it was hoped to distribute these canes to all those suffering from visual disability, including students and teachers alike, numbering about 200.

In March 2006 the National Democratic Alliance presented the President of India, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, with a memorandum for his removal signed by over 200 MPs.

Apprehensive about Chawla's alleged links to the Gandhi Family, in May 2006 Jaswant Singh, opposition leader in the Rajya Sabha, appealed to the Supreme Court of India for Chawla's removal as election commissioner because of his lifelong association with Congress politicians and the MPLADS controversy.

[21] Based on that the CEC alleged that Chawla had discharged his duties as election commissioner in a partisan manner, seeking to further the interests of "one party".

The CEC alleged that Chawla had shared some information about the election commission to Congress Party officials.

[22] He is also reported to have opposed the election commission's notice to Sonia Gandhi for accepting honours from Belgium.

[26][27] The Shah Commission, an independent commission headed by former Chief Justice of India Jayantilal Chhotalal Shah which investigated atrocities during the Emergency, said in its final report that Chawla was "unfit to hold any public office which demands an attitude of fair play and consideration for others".

[28][29][30][31][32][33] The Delhi High Court (Justice TPS Chawla) however dismissed the Report of the Shah Commission [The Honble.