S Y Quraishi assumes charge as 17th CEC

NEW DELHI - SY Quraishi on Friday took over as the 17th Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India.

He takes over from Navin Chawla, who held the post for one-and-a-half years.

He said the Commission had held a series of discussions among expenditure observers to find out the areas it could focus on to strengthen checks and controls to prevent misuse of money power.

“We will come out with detailed guidelines. They are being fine tuned. By the end of August, they would have been in place. We hope we will be able to tighten our control on the use of money power,” Quraishi told reporters after taking over.

The 63-year-old, 1971 batch IAS officer was appointed new CEC on Tuesday by President Pratibha Patil.

Qureshi, who has already served as Election Commissioner for over four years, will have a little more than two years as CEC.

He is also the first Muslim to be appointed CEC. (ANI)