PTI govt likely to decide on CEC appointment today

Parliamentary panel to also consider nominees for ECP members

ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary committee meeting for the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and two members of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will be held on Wednesday (today).

The meeting will review 6 names proposed by the government and opposition for the new CEC, while 12 names for the appointment of two members each from Sindh and Balochistan.

This will be the eighth session of parliamentary panel for the appointment of CEC and ECP members. The meeting will be presided over by Federal Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari.

Out of the 12-member parliamentary committee, eight are from National Assembly, while four are from Senate.

The number of government and opposition members in the committee is equal.

Dr Shireen Mazari, Senator Azam Swati, Ali Muhammad Khan, Pervez Khattak, Mohammadmian Soomro and Senator Naseebullah Bazai are from the treasury benches.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N's) Murtaza Javed Abbasi, Dr Nisar Cheema and Senator Mushahidullah Khan, while Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP’s) Raja Pervez Ashraf, Dr Sikandar Mehendro and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUIF's) Shahida Akhtar Ali are also members of the committee.

The government has proposed the name of ECP Secretary Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad for the post of CEC. Beside, names of Fazal Abbas and Arif Khan are also included.

Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif dispatched the names of Nasir Mahmood Khosa, Jalil Abbas Jilani and Akhlaq Ahmed Tarar to the premier.

The prime minister and the opposition leader had suggested three names each as ECP member for Sindh and Balochistan.

Prime Minister Imran Khan had proposed the names of retired Justice Sadiq Bhatti, retired Justice Noorul Haq Qureshi and Abdul Jabbar Qureshi as members from Sindh, while for Balochistan Dr Faiz Muhammad Kakar, Mir Naveed Jan Baloch and Amanullah Baloch were suggested.

Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif had proposed the names of Nisar Durrani, retired Justice Abdul Rasul Memon and Aurangzeb Haq from Sindh, while Shah Muhammad Jatoi Advocate, former advocate general Mohammad Rauf Atta and Raheela Durrani have been proposed for Balochistan.

The positions of ECP members from Sindh and Balochistan have been lying vacant since January following retirement of Abdul Ghaffar Soomro and retired Justice Shakeel Baloch.

Under the law, the positions were required to be filled within 45 days, but the legal deadline passed without even the initiation of consultation between the premier and the opposition leader. Even after belated commencement of the indirect consultation process, a controversy arose when President Arif Alvi had on August 22 appointed both nominees from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI’s) list as members of the ECP.

But the crisis deepened when next day Khalid Mehmood Siddiqui and Munir Ahmad Kakar, appointed as members from Sindh and Balochistan, respectively, went to the ECP to assume the charge and the CEC refused to administer the oath of office to them, saying their appointment was against the Constitution.

The appointment of two ECP members was challenged in the IHC by two members of the parliamentary committee belonging to the PML-N. The High Court in its order, while observing that constitutional provisions were not followed, had referred the matter to parliament and suspended the notification of appointment of the two members.