Shahabuddin Yaqoob Quraishi (born 11 June 1947) is an Indian civil servant who served as 17th
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. He was appointed as the CEC as the successor to
Navin Chawla
Navin Chawla (born 30 July 1945) is a retired Indian civil servant and writer, who served as 16th Chief Election Commissioner of India. Four phases (out of five) of the Indian general election to Loksabha were executed under his supervision in ...
on 30 July 2010. He has also served as a Secretary in the
Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports
The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is a branch of the Government of India which administers the Department of youth affairs and the Department of Sports in India. Anurag Thakur is the current Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports followed ...
.
Career
He is an
IAS IAS may refer to:
Science
* Institute for Advanced Study, in Princeton, New Jersey, United States
* Image Analysis & Stereology, the official journal of the International Society for Stereology & Image Analysis.
* Iowa Archeological Society, Uni ...
officer of the 1971 batch from
Haryana
Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...
cadre. He has a
PhD in communications and social marketing.
Quraishi became the first
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
to be the CEC of India. He demitted office on 10 June 2012.
He has authored a book titled 'An Undocumented Wonder – the Making of the Great Indian Election', a book that describes the enormity and complexity of the Indian election and a book titled Old Delhi- Living Traditions a coffee table book on the heritage city and its social and cultural life. His latest book The Population Myth reveals how the right-wing spin to population data has given rise to myths about the 'Muslim rate of growth', often used to stoke majoritarian fears of a demographic skew. The book busts myths about Islam and family planning.
He figured in ''The Indian Express'' list of 100 Most Powerful Indians of 2011 and again in 2012
He now pursues his interests in academics by teaching & mentoring at
Cluster Innovation Centre, University of Delhi in the capacity of Honorary Professor at the centre. He is also a current member of the International Elections Advisory Council.
While responding to
Karan Thapar
Karan Thapar (born 5 November 1955) is an Indian journalist, news presenter and interviewer working with The Wire. Thapar was associated with CNN-IBN and hosted ''The Devil's Advocate'' and ''The Last Word''. He was also associated with India T ...
on the ''Devil's Advocate'' programme on the television channel
CNN-IBN
CNN-News18 (originally CNN-IBN) is an Indian English-language news television channel founded by Raghav Bahl based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. It is currently co-owned by Network18 Group and Warner Bros. Discovery. CNN provides internationa ...
, he opposed the ideas of ''Right to Recall'' and ''Right to Reject'' advocated by
Anna Hazare
Kisan Baburao "Anna" Hazare (; born 15 June 1937) is an Indian social activist who led movements to promote rural development, increase government transparency, and investigate and punish corruption in public life. In addition to organising an ...
as not possible in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. However, after some time in a TV interview he said that the Right to Reject can be considered.
Dr. S Y Quraishi was awarded the Honorary Fellowship of the National Indian Students Union UK in May 2016. He joined
Shabana Azmi
Shabana Azmi (born 18 September 1950) is an Indian actress of Hindi film, television and theatre. One of India's most acclaimed actresses, Azmi is known for her portrayals of distinctive, often unconventional female characters across several ge ...
and
Javed Akhtar
Javed Akhtar (born 17 January 1945) is an Indian poet, lyricist, screenwriter and political activist. Known for his work in Hindi cinema, he has won five National Film Awards, and received the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Padma Bhushan in 200 ...
who were the first recipients of the Fellowship.
References
External links
*
LegalEra Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quraishi, S.Y.
1947 births
Living people
Indian Muslims
Place of birth missing (living people)
Chief Election Commissioners of India
St. Stephen's College, Delhi alumni
Indian Administrative Service officers
People of the Sri Lankan Civil War
Indian Peace Keeping Force