NEW DELHI, July 30: India’s chief election commissioner, who defied government pressure for an early election in riot-torn Gujarat state and oversaw fair polls in occupied Kashmir, has won Asia’s equivalent of the Nobel prize.

The Philippines-based Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation on Wednesday named James Lyngdoh as one of this year’s seven winners, for his work in government service as the man in charge of elections in the world’s largest democracy.

“Mr Lyngdoh is being recognised for his convincing validation of free and fair elections as the foundation and best hope of secular democracy in strife-torn India,” the foundation said in a statement.

Lyngdoh rose from relative anonymity last year when he rejected the ruling Hindu nationalists’ plans for a snap poll in Gujarat.

The other winners were: Doctor and AIDS activist Gao Yaojie, of China, for public service; Indian child labour campaigner Shantha Sinha for community leadership; Filipino Sheila Coronel for journalism; Tetsu Nakamura, a Japanese healthworker who has worked in Afghanistan and Pakistan, for peace and international understanding; Japanese environmentalist Seiei Toyama, for peace and international understanding; East Timor’s Reception, Truth and Reconciliation Commission chief Aniceto Lopes, for emergent leadership.—Reuters