Former CEC SY Quraishi set to tie knot with Nepalese poll commissioner Ila Sharma

A year after meeting each other at a conference in Mexico, former chief election commissioner of India, SY Quraishi (69) and current election commissioner of Nepal, Ila Sharma (49), are reportedly set to tie the knot. [caption id=“attachment_3038040” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Ila Sharma and SY Quraishi. Twitter[/caption] Was it a love at first sight? We can’t say for sure, but according to a news report published in The Telegraph, it was nothing sort of a “boy-meets-girl” episode, one where a veteran election officer found more than just politics to share with an election commissioner from a neighbouring country. An author of several articles and books, including the popular, Social Marketing for Social Change, Quraishi is a popular face in Delhi’s social circle. A 1971-batch IAS officer and alumnus of St Stephen’s College, Quraishi was earlier married to journalist and columnist Humra Quraishi. Sharma, on the other hand, has been a champion of election reforms in Nepal for decades. According to her LinkedIn profile, the former journalist holds degrees in law, bio-science as well as Sanskrit. According to The Telegraph, Sharma’s husband “Nawaraj Poudel, a police inspector, was killed by Maoists in Western Nepal, 15 years ago, and has two daughters”. “This is a personal bond between us,” Quraishi told The Telegraph. Though “reluctant” to speak on the subject, according to the Kolkata-based daily there may be the “possibility of a wedding this week”. The report also says that both the bride and groom had faced “mild resistance” from their families about their union.