More than a week since Navin Chawla demitted office as the Chief Election Commissioner and Mr. S.Y. Quraishi took over, the government has not yet been able to finalise the name of an Election Commissioner.
Informed sources said the decision awaits the arrival of United Progressive Alliance chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who is currently abroad.
Mr. Quraishi said the Commission looked forward to the appointment of an Election Commissioner as soon as possible. Mr. V.S. Sampath is the other Election Commissioner.
Mr. Quraishi replied in the negative when asked whether the Commission's work was affected due to the absence of another Election Commissioner. “We [he and Mr. Sampath] are taking collective decisions,” he said.
On use of “money power” extensively in some States during polls, he said this was a nation-wide problem and not confined to one or two States.
