T. N. Seshan facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
T. N. Seshan
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| 10th Chief Election Commissioner of India | |
| In office 12 December 1990 – 11 December 1996 |
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| Prime Minister | Chandra Shekhar P. V. Narasimha Rao Atal Bihari Vajpayee H. D. Deve Gowda |
| Preceded by | V. S. Ramadevi |
| Succeeded by | M. S. Gill |
| 18th Cabinet Secretary of India | |
| In office 27 March 1989 – 23 December 1989 |
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| Prime Minister | Rajiv Gandhi |
| Preceded by | B. G. Deshmukh |
| Succeeded by | V. C. Pande |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Tirunellai Narayana Iyer Seshan
15 December 1932 Palghat, Malabar District, British India (present-day Kerala, India) |
| Died | 10 November 2019 (aged 86) Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Spouse |
Jayalakshmi Seshan
(m. 1959; died 2018) |
| Alma mater | Madras Christian College Harvard University |
| Occupation | Bureaucrat |
| Awards | Ramon Magsaysay award (1996) |
Tirunellai Narayana Iyer Seshan (born December 15, 1932 – died November 10, 2019) was an important Indian government official. He worked in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), which is a top civil service in India. After holding many different jobs, he became the 18th Cabinet Secretary of India in 1989. He is most famous for being the 10th Chief Election Commissioner of India from 1990 to 1996. During this time, he made big changes to how elections were held in India. For his great work in government, he received the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1996.
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Early Life and Education
Tirunellai Narayana Iyer Seshan was born on December 15, 1932. His birthplace was Thirunellai Village in Palakkad, Kerala. He was the youngest of six children. His father worked as a lawyer in a local court.
Seshan went to Basel Evangelical Mission Higher Secondary School. He then studied at Government Victoria College, Palakkad. Even though he was chosen for engineering, he decided to join Madras Christian College (MCC). He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from MCC. He also taught there for a short time from 1950 to 1952.
In 1953, he passed the police service exam but chose not to join. The next year, in 1954, he passed the UPSC civil services exam. This allowed him to join the IAS in 1955.
His Career Journey
Seshan started his career as an assistant collector in Coimbatore. This was part of his training for the IAS. His first full appointment was as a sub-collector in Dindigul. From 1958 to 1962, he worked in Madras (now Chennai). There, he helped manage a local government program for villages called panchayats.
In 1962, he became the director of transport for Madras State (now Tamil Nadu). Two years later, in 1964, he was made the collector of Madurai district. After this, he went to Harvard University in the United States. He studied public administration there and earned a master's degree in 1968.
When he returned to India in 1969, he became secretary to the Atomic Energy Commission of India. From 1972 to 1976, he worked for the Department of Space. In 1976, he went back to Tamil Nadu. He briefly served as the state's secretary for industries and agriculture. Later, he moved to Delhi and worked for the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation.
He continued to hold important roles in the government. From 1980 to 1985, he was an additional secretary for the Department of Space. Then, from 1985 to 1988, he was the secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Forests. He also served as secretary of Internal Security until 1989. For ten months in 1988, he was the secretary of the Ministry of Defence.
In 1989, he reached the highest position in the Indian civil service. He was appointed the 18th Cabinet Secretary. After this, he also became a member of the Planning Commission.
Chief Election Commissioner
T. N. Seshan became the 10th Chief Election Commissioner of India on December 12, 1990. He held this powerful position until December 11, 1996. He is best known for making huge changes to how elections were run in India. He made the Election Commission of India much more visible and powerful.
Seshan found over a hundred ways that elections were being unfairly managed. He then worked to fix these problems. Some of his important reforms included:
- Making sure everyone followed the election code of conduct.
- Introducing Voter IDs for all eligible voters.
- Setting limits on how much money election candidates could spend.
- Appointing election officials from different states to ensure fairness.
He stopped many unfair practices during elections. These included bribing voters or trying to scare them. He also stopped the distribution of alcohol during elections. He made sure government money and resources were not used for election campaigns. He also prevented candidates from using religious places for campaigning. Loudspeakers and high-volume music needed special permission.
Because of his reforms, during the 1999 Indian general elections, many candidates faced consequences. About 1488 candidates were banned for three years. This was because they did not properly report their election spending. He personally checked over 40,000 spending accounts. He disqualified 14,000 candidates for giving false information. In 1992, the Election Commission even canceled elections in Bihar and Punjab. This happened because of serious problems with how the elections were being held.
Later Life
After he retired as the Chief Election Commissioner, Seshan tried to become the President of India. He ran in the 1997 Indian presidential election but lost to K. R. Narayanan. He also taught leadership at the Great Lakes Institute of Management in Chennai. He briefly taught at the LBSNAA, Musoorie. In 2012, a court in Chennai asked him to manage the Pachaiyappa's Trust.
T. N. Seshan passed away at his home in Chennai on November 10, 2019.
Recognition
For his excellent service to the government, T. N. Seshan received the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1996. This award is sometimes called "Asia's Nobel Prize."
Personal Life
T. N. Seshan was married to Jayalakshmi Seshan. They got married in 1959. His wife passed away in March 2018. They did not have any children. He was a very smart person and knew many languages. These included Tamil, Malayalam, Sanskrit, English, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, and Gujarati.
