"Being the largest democracy is not good enough, my dream is for India to become the greatest democracy in the world"

S.Y. Quraishi is an Indian civil servant who rose to be the 17th Chief Election Commissioner of India. He is currently the Chancellor of IILM University, Gurgaon, India, and is well known for his role in international election observation missions in nations such as South Africa, Kenya, Russia, and Myanmar. He has served on the International Institute of Democracy and Electoral Assistance in Stockholm for 9 years.

Through his illustrious career, he was declared one of the top 100 most powerful Indians in 2011 and 2012. He has also published numerous books, including India's Experiment with Democracy: The Life of a Nation Through its Elections, his most recent work."

The most intellectual, courageous and dedicated chief election commissioner India had had in the twenty-first century." Christophe Jaffrelot, Avantha Chair of Indian Politics and Sociology at King's College London