Hoshiarpur rejoices as Sunil Arora appointed next CEC

Sanjiv Kumar Bakshi

Hoshiarpur, November 28

There is a good news for city residents as Election Commissioner Sunil Arora is becoming the next Chief Election Commissioner (CEC). Born and brought up in Hoshiarpur, Arora got his education up to graduation here and despite serving on important positions, he never forgot his roots and always remained connected with people of his city.

His father Naseeb Chand Arora was an accounts officer in the Indian Railways and was posted in Jalandhar. His mother Pushp Lata was a professor of English at the local DAV College. Arora did his schooling from Vidya Mandir Senior Model School and Dayanand Model School of Hoshiarpur and graduated from DAV College, Hoshiarpur.

Secretary of DAV College managing committee and former principal of DAV College DL Anand, who was a teacher of Arora in the college and a colleague of his mother for nearly 25 years, said Arora’s family used to live in a house in the Premgarh area of Hoshiarpur. His uncle RC Arora was also a professor of History at DAV College.

Anand said Arora had been always connected to his roots even after becoming an IAS officer. His mother Pushp Lata was in charge of the DAV College Girls’ section from 1954 to 1989. While recalling the old memories, Anand said Arora was a meritorious student and along with studies, he was also good in co-curricular activities. While recollecting a memoir associated with Arora, he said Arora had attended the PU youth festival held at Government College, Tanda, in 1972-73. At that time, some professors of the college were staying at the former principal’s house. At around 1:30 am, someone knocked at the door of his residence. When he opened the door, Arora, who was a student at that time and had returned from the festival, was standing there. Arora said he knew that it was too late in the night but he was hungry.

“Meal was cooked at my house at that time, Arora and Mohan Chowdhry (elder son of former MLA Ch Balbir Singh) had the meal and stayed there for the night,” recalled Anand.

Anand said Arora was constantly in touch with his teachers and family friends. He said in 1996, he went to Jaipur with his family and Arora was then a senior IAS officer there. He invited them for dinner at his house. and also made all arrangements for their trip across Rajasthan on his own.