Union Home Secretary N Gopalaswami was on Wednesday appointed election commissioner.
He will take over from chief election commissioner-designate T S Krishnamurthy on February 8.
CEC James Michael Lyngdoh retires on February 8.
The appointment was announced through an official press communiqué.
Gopalaswami, a Gujarat-cadre Indian Administrative Service officer of the 1966 batch, took over as home secretary in October 2002.
He will have a tenure of more than five years in the three-member commission. He was to retire from the government in April this year.
A gold medallist post-graduate in chemistry from the Delhi University, he served in Gujarat in various capacities for 25 years.
Besides working as secretary general, National Human Rights Commission, from September 1998 to July 2001, Gopalaswami served as Union culture secretary from July 2001 to October 2002.