JOIN USS Y Quraishi is new CEC
The 63-year-old, 1971 batch IAS officer was appointed new CEC on Tuesday by President Pratibha Patil as the senior-most Election Commissioner of the three-member Election Commission. Qureshi, who has already served as EC for more than four years, will have a little more than two years as CEC. He is also the first Muslim to be appointed CEC.
The Centre may appoint a woman IAS officer in Quraishi’s place as one of the other two Election Commissioners. V S Sampath, a 1973 batch officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre, is the other EC.
“I feel deeply honoured on being entrusted with this assignment. Election Commission of India is an institution in which the nation places a great trust. It would be my utmost endeavour to prove myself worthy of this trust,” Quraishi said.
A product of St Stephen’s College in Delhi, Quraishi had worked both at the Centre and the state levels. He is well versed in modern Persian, Arabic and German, which he mastered before joining Civil Services.
Quraishi is also a Phd holder, having done his research on ‘Role of Communication and Social Marketing in Development of Women and Children’. Quraishi now has the onus of leading the three-member team to conduct Assembly elections in Bihar later this year and in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala and Assam next summer.