state's secretary of industries and of agriculture for a brief period. After differences with the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, he resigned and moved to Delhi where he was appointed as a member of the Oil and Natural Gas Commission and was in charge of personnel. After two years, he served as additional secretary to the Department of Space from 1980 to 1985. Later he became secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Forests from 1985 to 1988. He opposed the Tehri dam and Sardar Sarovar dam on Narmada river during his stint but was overruled. He was later given the additional position of secretary of Internal Security which he served until 1989. In 1988, he served secretary of the Ministry of Defence for ten months. He was appointed 18th Cabinet Secretary, the senior-most position in the Indian civil service hierarchy, in 1989 and later served as a member of Planning Commission. He was appointed as the 10th Chief Election Commissioner and served from 12 December 1990 to 11 December 1996. According to interview given by him to Business Standard, Law Minister Subramanian Swamy played a vital role in this appointment. He became best known for his electoral reforms. He redefined the status and visibility of the Election Commission of India. He identified more than hundred electoral malpractices and reformed the election process. Some of reforms he implemented include enforcement of election code of conduct, Voter IDs for all eligible voters, limit on election candidates' expenditure, appointing election officials from states other than the one facing polls. He curbed several malpractices like bribing or intimidating voters, distribution of liquor during elections, use of government funds and machinery for campaigning, appealing to voters' caste or communal feelings, use of places of worship for campaigns, use of loudspeakers and high volume music without prior written permission. During the 1999 Indian general elections, due to his reforms, 1488 candidates were disqualified for three years for failing to submit their expenditure accounts. It was reported that he reviewed more than 40,000 expenditure accounts and disqualified 14,000 candidates for false information. In 1992, the Election Commission canceled elections in Bihar and Punjab due to electoral issues. Later life After retirement as the CEC, he contested the 1997 Indian presidential election and lost to K.R. Narayanan. He taught leadership at the Great Lakes Institute of Management in Chennai and had briefly taught at the LBSNAA, Musoorie.