Justice Nasirul Mulk sworn in as new chief election commissioner

Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, the incoming chief justice, resigned from his post of CEC yesterday.

ISLAMABAD: Justice Nasirul Mulk was sworn in as the new chief election commissioner (CEC) at a ceremony at the Lahore registry of the apex court, Express News reported on Saturday.

The oath was administered to the new CEC by outgoing Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani had resigned from his post of CEC yesterday, after being appointed as the next chief justice of Pakistan (CJP).

On November 27, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had given the go-ahead for Justice Jillani to be appointed as the next CJP. Incumbent Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry is set to retire from his post on December 12.

LG elections

An Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) official had told The Express Tribune earlier that the matter of election dates would have to be placed before the new acting CEC once he assumes charge.

The ECP had failed to notify the schedule for local government elections in Punjab and Sindh on Friday, indicating that the already protracted process could be beset by even further delays.

ECP officials had said the commission could not notify the schedule because neither of the two provinces had completed the prerequisites by November 28 – the deadline set by election authorities.

In a meeting with the ECP on November 19, authorities from all four provinces had urged the commission to further delay the local government polls.

The ECP, however, had rejected their pleas on the ground that it had assured the Supreme Court that the local government polls would be held by January 18 in Sindh, January 30 in Punjab and by the end of February in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Islamabad Capital Territory and cantonment areas.

With the case lingering on since 2009, and with a number of deadlines missed already, the court only agreed to extend the deadlines it had set earlier – November 27 in Sindh and December 7 in Punjab – after it was assured that the polls would be held by the aforementioned dates.