New Delhi, July 30: India today got its first Muslim Chief Election Commissioner in S Y Quraishi (63), who has already put in four years as election commissioner.
Quraishi took over as the 17th CEC from retiring CEC Navin Chawla here.
The 1971 batch IAS officer made some crucial announcements on taking charge at the poll panel.
He said the Chief Election Commission was considering proposals to transform the voter ID cards into biometric cards. He indicated that elections in India would be conducted only with the help of electronic voting machines.
Quraishi said the poll panel was gearing up for the coming Assembly polls in Bihar but answered in the negative when asked about early polls in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.
The new CEC said, “The commission comes into the picture only six months before the polls are due. That stage has not come in these states.”
|