New Delhi, July 14 (IANS) Former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) S.Y. Quraishi on Tuesday said he had declined an offer to serve as Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), saying he was uncomfortable with what he perceived as a communal approach towards the posting and wanted to be recognised for his professional merit rather than his religious identity. In an exclusive interview with IANS, Quraishi said he preferred to be known as a capable and accomplished IAS officer instead o…
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New Delhi, July 14 (IANS) Former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) S.Y. Quraishi on Tuesday recalled his meetings with former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, saying he had discussed with her the importance of maintaining the credibility and independence of the Election Commission. Reflecting on their interactions, Quraishi said Hasina was initially “a bit defensive” but remained receptive to his views on the need for credible elections.Recalling the circumstances that led to the meeting…
New Delhi, July 14 (IANS) Former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) S.Y. Quraishi has said that curbing the influence of money power in elections was one of his biggest priorities after taking charge of the Election Commission of India (ECI) in 2010. Recalling his tenure, he said the Commission identified 40 different methods through which money was allegedly used to influence voters and seized crores of rupees, which later increased to hundreds of crores, during its crackdown on electoral malpra…
New Delhi, July 14 (IANS) Former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) S.Y. Quraishi on Tuesday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was once the “strongest critic” of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and had repeatedly questioned their reliability. He also recalled that it was Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N. Chandrababu Naidu who proposed the introduction of the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT), a measure that, according to him, helped restore public confidence in the EVM system….
New Delhi, July 14 (IANS) Former Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi has revealed a startling conversation with former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his new book “India and I: A Hundred Memories, Not a Memoir”, recounting how he had told him he would “commit suicide” after mistakenly believing the then CEC Quraishi had questioned his commitment to the poll panel during a controversy over the censure of then Union Minister Salman Khurshid for violating the Model Code of Conduct durin…