India, Feb. 18 -- The appointment of incumbent Haryana chief secretary Vivek Joshi as election commissioner by the central government has unexpectedly opened avenues for 1990-batch IAS officers to succeed him.

Joshi, a 1989-batch Haryana-cadre IAS officer was secretary, department of personnel and training (DoPT) at the Centre when he was picked for the job of state chief secretary. His appointment in November 2024 meant that the senior most IAS officers of the 1990 batch serving in the state would have to wait for their turn as Joshi was set to retire in May 2026.

Among the five 1990-batch IAS officers available to succeed Joshi, Sudhir Rajpal is the senior most as per the inter se seniority followed by Sumita Misra, Anurag Rastogi, An...