Stalemate on appointment of ECP members continues

ISLAMABAD:

The stalemate between the government and opposition on the issue of the appointment of two new members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) could not end.

According to sources, the election supervisor wrote a letter to the parliamentary affairs ministry stating that one-and-a-half month was left for the retirement of its Punjab member Altaf Ibrahim Qureshi and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) member Irshad Qaiser.

The election commission requested the government to hold consultations with the opposition and ensure the timely appointment of members from both the provinces.

Both the ECP members after completing their five-year tenure will retire on July 25.

Earlier, during the rule of the PTI government, the issue of appointment of ECP members from Sindh and Balochistan could not be resolved for one year.

According to the constitution, the ECP members are to be appointed within 45 days of the retirement of the incumbent member.

The premier and opposition leader hold consultations after the failure of which the matter is sent to the parliamentary committee.

Sources said that Premier Imran Khan had assigned the task of suggesting the names of ECP members from Punjab and K-P to senior ministers.