India's former Chief Election Commissioner, 69-year-old SY Quraishi, has found love in 49-year-old current election commissioner of Nepal, Ila Sharma, in a late-blooming story of romance across the border.
The two are set to tie the knot in a ceremony for which preparations are underway in full swing, say relatives, although Quraishi himself is tight-lipped about it.
The couple met a year ago at a conference in Mexico. Seems like the veteran election commissioner and his younger counterpart hit it off instantly and shared more than just gyaan about their shared spheres of work.
St Stephen's alumnus Quraishi, known for his easy-going nature and popular in Delhi circles, developed a bond with Ila Sharma, who has been championing election reforms in her small Himalayan country, which recently became a republic.
Ila Sharma became the election commissioner in Nepal in 2013 for a six-year term. She lost her cop husband Nawaraj Poudel to an encounter with Maoists in Nepal, 15 years ago. A mother of two daughters, she was also a renowned journalist. A graduate of Sanskrit and Nepali literature, Sharma also holds a law degree from Gorakhpur University (1987)
Quraishi, a 1971-batch IAS officer, is divorced from his journalist wife Humra Quraishi.