Jump to content

S. Y. Quraishi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Shahabuddin Yaqoob Quraishi
17th Chief Election Commissioner of India
In office
30 July 2010 – 10 June 2012
PresidentPratibha Patil
Prime MinisterManmohan Singh
Preceded byNavin Chawla
Succeeded byV. S. Sampath
Personal details
Born (1947-06-11) 11 June 1947 (age 79)[1]
Delhi, British India
EducationSt. Stephen's College, Delhi
Delhi University
Jamia Millia Islamia
ProfessionCivil servant

Shahabuddin Yaqoob Quraishi (born 11 June 1947) is a retired IAS officer who served as 17th Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India.[2][3] He was appointed as the CEC as the successor to Navin Chawla on 30 July 2010.


He has also served as a Secretary in the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.[4] He has been listed among the 100 most influential Muslims in India- 2025 by Muslim Mirror.

Career

[edit]

He is an IAS officer of the 1971 batch from Haryana cadre. He has a PhD in communications and social marketing.[5]

Quraishi became the first Muslim to be the CEC of India. He demitted office on 10 June 2012.[6]

Key Electoral Reforms

[edit]

Quraishi introduced four major reforms that have endured:

1. Voter Education Division and SVEEP: He set up a dedicated Voter Education Division and launched the Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) programme. Since 2010, every election has recorded historic voter turnout.[7][8]

2. Expenditure and London in UK.

Monitoring Division: To curb black money, he established the Expenditure Monitoring Division. The EC seized crores of rupees during elections, with the amount later rising to hundreds of crores.[9]

3. National Voters' Day: He launched National Voters' Day on 25 January 2011 to encourage enrolment among young voters aged He has authored a book titled 'An Undocumented Wonder – the Making of the Great Indian Election',[10] a book that describes the enormity and complexity of the Indian election[11][12] and a book titled Old Delhi- Living Traditions a coffee table book on the heritage city and its social and cultural life.[13][14] 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.[15] The book busts myths about Islam and family planning.[16]

He figured in The Indian Express list of 100 Most Powerful Indians of 2011[17] and again in 2012[18]

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.[19] He is also a current member of the International Elections Advisory Council.

While responding to Karan Thapar on the Devil's Advocate programme on the television channel CNN-IBN, he opposed the ideas of Right to Recall and Right to Reject advocated by Anna Hazare as not possible in India.[20] However, after some time in a TV interview he said that the Right to Reject can be considered.[21]

Dr. S Y Quraishi was awarded the Honorary Fellowship of the National Indian Students Union UK in May 2016. He joined Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar who were the first recipients of the Fellowship.[22]

Books

[edit]
  • An Undocumented Wonder: The Making of the Great Indian Election (2014) – Rupa Publications, 434 pages. A first-person account of the recent electoral history of India, describing how the Election Commission of India conducts elections on an unprecedented scale, overcoming geography and diversity. The book answers how India emerged as the ‘Global Gold Standard’ in conducting elections.[23][24]
  • The Great March of Democracy: Seven Decades of India’s Elections (2019) – Edited collection.[25]
  • The Population Myth: Islam, Family Planning and Politics in India (2021)[26]
  • India’s Experiment with Democracy: The Life of a Nation Through its Elections (2023)[27]

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ Balaji, J. (28 July 2010). "Quraishi new Chief Election Commissioner". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 29 July 2010. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  2. ↑ "India is secular because most Hindus are secular: Former CEC SY Quraishi". Archived from the original on 24 March 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  3. ↑ "Election Commission of India". Archived from the original on 12 March 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  4. ↑ "Government of India appointed Youth Affairs and Sports Secretary S Y Quraishi as Election Commissioner for a five-year term from IndiaDaily.Com". Archived from the original on 1 November 2008. Retrieved 29 January 2009.
  5. ↑ Dr. S. Y. Quraishi has also attended the prestigious Jamia Millia Islamia, a Central University in New Delhi for his later education.S.Y. Quraishi appointed as election commissioner of India from YaHind.Com Archived 2 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ "V S Sampath is new Chief Election Commissioner". The Times of India. 6 June 2012. Archived from the original on 2 July 2013.
  7. ↑ "Quraishi focused on voter education and set up voter education division - historic turnout". ThePrint. 14 July 2026.
  8. ↑ "India's pluralism will survive: Former CEC on National Voters Day and voter education initiatives". EdexLive. 5 September 2026.
  9. ↑ "Established expenditure monitoring unit to check black money and historic voter turnouts". Times of India. 9 June 2012.
  10. ↑ Quraishi, S. y. (25 May 2019). "It's time to take stock of the electoral process". The Hindu.
  11. ↑ "An Undocumented Wonder".
  12. ↑ "Book review: An Undocumented Wonder, the making of the Great Indian Election".
  13. ↑ "Existing and forgotten traditions of Purani Dilli". The Hindu. December 2011.
  14. ↑ Quraishi, Shahabuddin Yaqoob (2011). Old Delhi: Living Traditions. Shubhi Publications. ISBN 978-8182902312.
  15. ↑ "The Population Myth".
  16. ↑ "Former CEC S.Y. Quraishi busts myths about Islam and family planning in his new book". ThePrint. 12 February 2021.
  17. ↑ "The most powerful Indians in 2011: No. 41-50 – Indian Express".
  18. ↑ "The most powerful Indians in 2012: No. 31-40 – Indian Express".
  19. ↑ "CIC gets a galaxy of honorary professors that include famous scientists, academicians, bureaucrats".
  20. ↑ "CEC not for Right to Reject, Recall, suspects will destabilise country". Indiavision news. Retrieved 16 October 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  21. ↑ "Right to reject can be considered: SY Quraishi". 29 January 2012.
  22. ↑ "Former Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi awarded honorary fellowship in UK". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 7 August 2016. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  23. ↑ "An Undocumented Wonder: The Making of the Great Indian Elections". Rupa Publications. Retrieved 23 October 2026.
  24. ↑ "Former EC chief SY Quraishi authored book An Undocumented Wonder". Firstpost. Retrieved 23 October 2026.
  25. ↑ "SY Quraishi authored An Undocumented Wonder and The Great March of Democracy". Radiance Weekly.
  26. ↑ "S.Y. Quraishi is author of An Undocumented Wonder (2014) and The Population Myth (2021)". HarperCollins India.
  27. ↑ "India's Experiment with Democracy by SY Quraishi". HarperCollins.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=S._Y._Quraishi&oldid=1381891857"