New Delhi: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) James Michael Lyngdoh, i-Flex chief Rajesh Hukku and TVS Motor CEO (chief executive officer) Venu Srinivasan have figured among top 25 "Stars of Asia" chosen by the prestigious 'Business Week' magazine.

In a cover-page article, the latest issue of the New York-based weekly put the "intense, straight talking" Lyngdoh, for holding free and fair elections in Jammu and Kashmir and Gujarat, at par with Chinese President Hu Jintao, who raised a relentless battle against SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) that threatened many millions of his countrymen.

Lyngdoh and Jintao are placed in the "policy makers" category along with South Korean Justice Minister Kang Gum Sil, President of East Timor Kay Rala Xana Gusmao and Indonesian police officer Mangku Pastika.

Hukku, listed as an entrepreneur in the "25 leaders at the forefront of change", was chosen for his capability to lead his company i-Flex as the best banking solution provider.

After striking gold by developing a stock trading system being used by global wire service Reuters, Hukku broke away from his employer Tata Consultancy and started i-Flex in early 1990s and within years his banking solution named "Flexcube" became famous with users across 90 countries.

"Hukku is now ready for what he calls "Mission Impossible 3' – cracking the US," the magazine said.

Narrating the lone and arduous journey for revival of family company TVS by its present CEO Srinivasan, 'Business Week' said, "By 2001, he split with Suzuki on favourable term and start manufacturing on its own.

"A year later, the company won the deeming prize, a coveted international award on quality management," the publication said while terming Srinivasan's TVS motor as "India's hottest producer of motorcycles".

Srinivasan's efforts in giving the present shape to TVS after joint venure partner Suzuki refused to bail it out from the crisis emanating from a devastating employees' strike in early 1990s, got him a place among the best acknowledged managers – Toyota motor president Fujio Cho and top executive of Korean electronic giant Samsung and LG.

Saying that Lyngdoh stood up to "political pressure", the magazine showers heap of praises on him saying, "India's upright CEC was determined to ensure that voters could get to the polls without threat of violence or fear of ballot-box stuffing.

"The elections helped open the door to a thaw in relations between India and Pakistan over Kashmir and calmed religious ferment in Gujarat," it said while commenting that it takes a lot of work to monitor elections in India, the world's largest democracy.

PTI