Election Commissioner Veeravalli Sundaram Sampath was on Thursday appointed the new Chief Election Commissioner who will preside over the next Lok Sabha general elections in 2014.

62-year-old Sampath will take over as CEC after incumbent S Y Quraishi demits office on June 10.

Brushing aside BJP Leader L K Advani's suggestion for a collegium to decide on appointment of CEC and CAG, the government went ahead and named the 1973-batch IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre.

President Pratibha Patil cleared his appointment on Thursday evening, official sources said.