Vacant post: Nawaz, Shah swap names for CEC

Both vow to appoint top electoral official with consensus

ISLAMABAD:

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Khurshid Shah exchanged and discussed various names for the vacant chief election commissioner’s (CEC) slot on Thursday.

Officials confirmed that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif put forth three names for the post, namely retired Supreme Court judges Tassaduq Hussain Jilani, Rana Bhagwandas and Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui. Khurshid Shah, on the other hand, proposed only two names: those of Justice (retd) Mian Ajmal and Justice (retd) Tariq Pervez.

Both Premier Nawaz and Shah agreed to appoint the new CEC with consensus. Shah said he may take proposals from other opposition parties as well.

Talking to reporters, the opposition leader said he had consulted other parties and would continue this process. Shah also suggested that the government was keen on seeing either Justice Bhagwandas or Justice Siddiqui as the new CEC.



The Supreme Court has fixed November 16 as the deadline for the appointment of the CEC. Since August last year, 13 Supreme Court judges have served as acting CECs. The SC, in its last hearing pertaining to the matter, asked the government to appoint a permanent CEC otherwise they would withdraw their judge from performing as an acting CEC.

It is pertinent to mention that if both the prime minister and opposition leader don’t agree on one name then article 213 is applicable which states both shall send three names each to a parliamentary committee for the appointment of the CEC.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, November 7^th, 2014.