SY Quraishi is not the first chief election commissioner to have had a run-in with the government of the day. Nor probably will he be the last. His spat with union law minister Salman Khurshid over the latter's violation of the model code of conduct is one of many turf battles that have been fought through the years as CECs tested the limits of their independence and governments sought to maintain control. It was Khurshid who, inadvertently perhaps, let the cat out of the bag in a recent television interview. The question related to the independence of the CBI. But the law minister drew a parallel with the Election Commission to claim that every institution is under "some control". He went on to add that for "administrative purposes such as all foreign trips", the EC required clearance from his ministry.