S Y Quraishi appointed Chief Election Commissioner

File photo of Dr. S.Y. Quraishi.

The President today appointed Mr Shahabuddin Yaqoob Quraishi, the senior-most Election Commissioner, as the Chief Election Commissioner in the Election Commission of India.

Mr Qureshi will assume charge of the post with effect from July 30, succeeding Mr Navin B Chawla who will demit office on July 29 on attaining the age of 65, an official announcement from the Ministry of Law and Justice said.

He will have a tenure of just under two years until he attains the age of 65 in July, 2012.

Mr Chawla, who took over as Chief Election on April 21 last year in the middle of the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, had a tenure of a little over 15 months.

The President appoints the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners. They have a tenure of six years, or up to the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. They enjoy the same status and receive salary and perks as available to Judges of the Supreme Court of India. The Chief Election Commissioner can be removed from office only through impeachment by Parliament.

Like Mr Chawla and many of his predecessors, Mr Quraishi is a former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer. He belonged to the 1971 batch (Haryana cadre).

Also, like Mr Chawla, he is an alumnus of the St. Stephen's College in Delhi. He is a post-graduate in history and did his Ph.D. in Communications and Social Marketing.

Among the various positions he has held in his career as a bureaucrat are as Director General of the National Aids Control Organisation (NACO), Director General, Doordarshan and Director General of the Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan. He was the first director of the Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Develolpment at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu between 1993 and 1997. He also served as Secretary, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports before being appointed as an Election Commissioner on June 30, 2006.

NNN