Panel discusses ECP nominations

Members from both govt and opposition hand over profiles of suggested names for CEC, ECP

ISLAMABAD: The second meeting of the Parliamentary Committee for the appointment of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and members of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was held here on Wednesday.

The session chaired by Federal Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari held a discussion to consider the nomination for the appointment of ECP members from Sindh and Balochistan.

Members from both government and opposition handed over the profiles of their suggested candidates.

From the government side, Ali Muhammad Khan, Shahida Akhtar Ali and Mohammadmian Soomro participated in the meeting, while from the opposition Khursheed Shah, Murtaza Javed Abbasi and Mushahidullah were in attendance.

The government members suggested the names of Khalid Mehmood Siddiqui, a lawyer; retired Justice Farrukh Zia Sheikh, a former judge of the Sindh High Court; and Iqbal Mehmood, retired inspector general of Sindh police for their nomination as a member of the ECP from Sindh.

They proposed the names of Amanullah Baloch, former district and sessions judge, Quetta; Munir Kakar, a lawyer; and Mir Naveed Jan Baloch, a businessman and former caretaker minister in the provincial government, for their nomination as a member of the ECP from Balochistan.

The members of opposition suggested the names of Khalid Javed, Justice (retd) Abdul Rasul Memon and Justice (retd) Noorul Haq from Sindh and Salahuddin Mengal, Shah Muhammad Jatoi and Rauf Atta from Balochistan.

The next meeting is scheduled for June 19.

Under the Constitution, the ECP comprises a Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and four members — one from each province.

ECP members Abdul Ghaffar Soomro and retired Justice Shakeel Baloch from Sindh and Balochistan, respectively, retired on January 26 and new members under the Constitution should have been appointed by March 12.

The process of consultation between Prime Minister Imran Khan and Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif could not start and later a controversy was started after Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi through an additional secretary wrote a letter to opposition leader proposing three names each for ECP members from Sindh and Balochistan.

PM Khan later ‘reconsidered’ his strategy and began ‘consultation’ with Shehbaz by suggesting to him through a letter three nominations each for the vacant posts of the ECP members.