Senate rejects proposal to tweak CEC appointment procedure

Senate Standing Committee on Law discusses five constitution amendment bills

ISLAMABAD: A panel of the upper house of the parliament has not approved a constitutional amendment bill calling for referring to the apex court the matter of appointment of the chief election commissioner (CEC) if the relevant parliamentary panel fails to agree on any name for the key post.

The CEC is the authority and the appointed chair of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) – the polls supervisory body responsible to conduct elections for the national and provincial legislatures.

The prime minister – who is also the leader of the house in the National Assembly – and the leader of opposition recommend three names for appointment of the CEC and for each member to the parliamentary committee.

In case of lack of consensus on the nominees, the PM and the leader of opposition send separate lists to the committee, which consists of 12 members – six each from treasure and opposition benches.

One-third members of the committee belong to the Senate. The committee, formed by the National Assembly speaker, later confirms one person for each post. On recommendation of the committee, the president appoints the CEC and ECP provincial members.

Senator Lt Gen (retd) Abdul Qayyum had moved The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2018 (Amendment of Article 213 & 215) that called for referring the matter of appointment of the CEC and ECP members to the Supreme Court in case the parliamentary committee is unable to finalise any name.

However, the Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice in its meeting held on Monday rejected the proposal. The committee member said another institution, judiciary, should not be involved in the process and all decision about such appointments should be taken by the parliament.

They urged that a mechanism should come from within the parliament but agreed to amendment in Article 215 in principle. The committee will further deliberate on the bill in its next meeting.

The committee discussed a total of five constitution (amendment) bills that called for amendments in Articles (51 & 106), (213 & 215), (253A), (45) of the Constitution.

The panel while discussing The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (Amendment of Article 51 & 106) heard the movers of the bill as well as the members of the committee.

The committee members were of the view that amendment in Article 51 relates with changes in the composition of the National Assembly that would involve changes with other provincial representation and would also subject to publication of the 2017 census results.

The amendment of Article 106 calling for increasing seats of Balochistan Assembly from 65 to 80 was approved by the committee. However, the members stressed upon the need for having a working as to how the seats have to be reallocated.

The committee recommended that the increase in seats should be according to the formula which is currently used by the ECP.

The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2018 (Amendment of Article 213) moved by Senator Siraj ul Haq was clubbed with this bill. The committee also heard the mover of The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2018 (Amendment of Article 45) Senator Sirajul Haq.