Former CEC Quraishi to marry Nepal’s current election commissioner

SY Quraishi and Ila Sharma (Source: Express Archive, Twitter)

Former Chief Election Commissioner of India SY Quraishi and the current election commissioner of Nepal Ila Sharma met at a conference in Mexico last year, in what has turned out to be a meet-cute of the political spheres. Reports in The Telegraph suggested Thursday that the two might be reaching the ‘logical conclusion’ of their communion this week.

Quraishi, 69, and Sharma, 49 reportedly hit it off during the conference on money in politics in Mexico in September 2015 and have come close ever since. Though apprehensive to speak on the subject, Quraishi has since admitted that the two have a “personal bond”. “This is a personal bond between us,” The Telegraph quoted him as saying. Quraishi also said that the two times that they’ve tried to get married, some or the other reason caused them to delay, terming the timing of the wedding “speculative”.

The paper, citing sources, said that the prospective bride and groom were both facing mild resistance from their families.

Quraishi is a St. Stephen’s alumnus and a 1971-batch IAS officer, who is divorced from Humra Quraishi, a journalist and columnist. Sharma, an alumnus of Gorakhpur University and the Sampurnanand Sanskrit University in Varanasi, lost her husband during an attack by Maoists in western Nepal about 15 years ago.