President Pratibha Patil on Tuesday appointed Election Commissioner (EC) Shahabuddin Yaqoob Quraishi as the next Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) under Clause 2 of the Article 324 of the Constitution.
A Law Ministry notification said Mr. Quraishi will assume office on July 30 as present incumbent Navin Chawla demits office on Thursday.
“Very proud”
Expressing happiness over the appointment, 63-year-old Mr. Quraishi, who will head the three-member Election Commission till June 10, 2012, told The Hindu that he was “very proud to be given the honour.” It would be his endeavour to live up to the fullest of the trust reposed on the great institution of Election Commission by the nation, he said.
Mr. Quraishi sought the support of all stakeholders, especially the people in the discharge of his “sacred duties.”
As there would be one vacancy of EC following Mr. Quraishi's elevation as CEC, the government is in the process filling that post and it is expected to be done in a couple of days. The other EC is V.S. Sampath.
Mr. Quraishi, a former IAS officer of the 1971 batch from Haryana cadre, will be in charge of holding the Assembly elections in Bihar this year and in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Puducherry and Assam next year.
In Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Manipur the Assembly polls are due in 2012 well before his due date of demitting office.
Born on June 11, 1947 in Delhi, Mr. Quraishi is a post-graduate in history from St. Stephen's College here. He did his Ph.D in communication and social marketing. The title of his doctoral thesis was “The Role of Communication and Social Marketing in Development of Women and Children”.
Mr. Quraishi became the EC on June 30, 2006. Prior to that, he was Union Secretary, Youth Affairs and Sports. He also served as Director-General, Doordarshan (National Television Network) and Power Secretary of the Haryana government.
