Panel fails to break deadlock on ECP makeup

Commission will become dysfunctional after CEC’s retirement

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will become dysfunctional as the treasury and the opposition failed on Wednesday to break a deadlock on two appointments in the poll supervisory body while its head is set to retire on Friday.

The Parliamentary Committee – which is supposed to finalise names of ECP members from Sindh and Balochistan – failed to evolve consensus on Wednesday. The two positions have been lying vacant since the retirement of Abdul Ghaffar Soomro and Justice (retd) Shakeel Baloch in January.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice (retd) Sardar Raza Khan will retire on Friday after completing his five-year constitutional term. Shehbaz Sharif, the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, has already sent his nominations for a possible replacement of Justice (retd) Raza.

In Wednesday’s meeting, which was chaired by Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari, the opposition demanded that the CEC and ECP members from Sindh and Balochistan be appointed simultaneously.

Dr Mazari described the meeting as “very good” and “positive”, while insisting that the treasury and the opposition were nearing consensus on the ECP appointments.

She said the two sides have agreed that the Parliamentary Committee would evolve consensus on the appointment of CEC and ECP members at the same time. She added that the committee would reconvene next week to finalise names for the three posts.

PML-N leader Mushahidullah Khan, however, didn’t share Dr Mazari’s optimism. The ECP is becoming dysfunctional only because the prime minister does not like shaking hands with the opposition leader, he said, adding that his party wanted the appointment of a CEC without any delay.

Shehbaz has proposed the names of Nisar Durrani, Justice (retd) Abdul Rasul Memon and Aurangzeb Haq for the position of the ECP member from Sindh. Similarly, he has recommended Shah Mehmood Jatoi, Muhammad Rauf Atta and Rahila Durrani for the Balochistan slot.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, on the other hand, has proposed the names of Justice (retd) Sadiq Bhatti, Justice (retd) Noorul Haq Qureshi and Abdul Jabbar Qureshi for the ECP member from Sindh. Similarly, he has recommended Dr Faiz M Kakar, Mir Naveed Jan Baloch and Amanullah Baloch for the vacancy from Balochistan.

According to the Constitution, the leader of the house is required to hold consultations with the leader of the opposition on the ECP appointments. They propose three names each and send them to the Parliamentary Committee which then develops consensus on one before sending it to the president for appointment.

The Parliamentary Committee, constituted by the National Assembly speaker, comprises 50% members from the treasury benches and 50% from the opposition parties.

Speaking to media after Wednesday’s meeting, PPP leader Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said his party wanted to strengthen the ECP with the placement of honest people. He observed that PPP had asked the government to make the appointments on merit.

After the Parliamentary Committee session, a meeting was separately held at the Senate chairman’s chambers on the same issue.

Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, SAPM on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan and Parliamentary Committee chairperson Dr Shireen Mazari were in attendance.

Sanjrani said they have decided to seek time from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for the appointment of ECP members. He said the opposition was also on board on this.

Qaiser, while commenting on the opposition approaching the apex court, said it was decided during consultation that the issue would be resolved in parliament.

The opposition’s Rahbar Committee, meanwhile, filed an application in the Supreme Court on the appointment of ECP members.

Eleven members of the Rahbar Committee signed the document in which the ECP and the federal government have been named as respondents.

The application stated that two ECP members had retired in January, while the CEC was retiring on December 5 which would render the ECP dysfunctional.

It said that the silence of Article 213 after lack of consensus in the Parliamentary Committee would create a constitutional crisis and that approaching the Supreme Court was the last resort.

On the other hand, IHC will be taking up today (Thursday) the case against the appointment of two ECP members. Chief Justice Athar Minallah will conduct the hearing.

The court had directed the custodians of the two houses of parliament to resolve the issue and submit a report on the appointment of two ECP members. The IHC had expressed reservations that the delay in appointing new members would render ECP ineffective.

In the last hearing, the IHC had suspended the notification of appointment of Khalid Mehmood Siddiqui as ECP member from Sindh and Munir Ahmed Kakar as ECP member from Balochistan – both PTI nominees.

The appointments were unilaterally made by President Arif Alvi on August 22 after consultations between the treasury and the opposition failed to develop consensus. The appointments were, however, challenged in the IHC by PML-N MNAs Murtaza Javed Abbasi and Dr Nisar Cheema.