Impasse on ECP posts finally breaks

PTI govt, opposition agree to float news names for CEC post

ISLAMABAD: In a breakthrough in the deadlock over key appointments to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the government and the opposition have agreed to propose new names for the position of the chief election commissioner.

The government has finally withdrawn the name of former ECP secretary Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad as the opposition had strong reservations over his nomination.

Both sides will forward the new names to the parliamentary committee tasked to finalise the appointments.

The top poll supervisory body has been dysfunctional after the chief election commissioner Justice (retd) Sardar Raza Khan retired in the first week of December last year while the appointment of two members by the president has been suspended by a court.

Prime Minister Imran Khan had proposed the names of retired bureaucrats Fazal Abbas, Babar Yaqoob and Arif Khan for the slot of CEC, while Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif had recommended the names of Nasir Mahmood Khosa, Jalil Abbas Jilani and Akhlaq Ahmad Tarar for the same post.

In November, the Islamabad High Court had suspended the notification of the appointment of Khalid Mehmood Siddiqui and Munir Ahmed Kakar as ECP members from Sindh and Balochistan respectively– both PTI nominees.

The positions were lying vacant since the retirement of Abdul Ghaffar Soomro and Justice (retd) Shakeel Baloch in January.

The appointments were made by President Arif Alvi on August 22 last after a disagreement between the treasury and the opposition on the  candidates. However, the election commissioner had refused to administer oath to the two new members nominated by the government, maintaining that the appointments were made in violation of the Constitution.

The appointments were challenged by PML-N MNAs Murtaza Javed Abbasi and Dr Nisar Cheema.

Last month, the IHC had given the treasury and the opposition 10 days to resolve the matter.

However, despite several meetings, the parliamentary committee tasked to finalise the appointments failed to develop consensus on nominees.