IHC to resume hearing on petition for appointment of ECP members on Dec 31
- By Web Desk -
- Dec 28, 2019
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has fixed a case related to appointment of two members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from Sindh and Balochistan for hearing on Dec 31, ARY News reported.
An IHC bench headed by Chief Justice Athar Minallah will hear the case.
The government and the opposition have thus far failed to evolve a consensus on the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and two members of the electoral body.
The IHC bench during a previous hearing had asked the legislators to rise above their political differences and make constitutional provisions workable.
It said the dignity, authority and supremacy of parliament was of great importance and intervention by the courts was neither desirable nor in line with the intent of the framers of the Constitution. The hearing was adjourned till Dec 31
At a meeting earlier on Dec 26, a bipartisan parliamentary panel failed to break the deadlock on filling three positions.
Read More: ECP establishes 24000 display centres to verify provisional voter lists
Earlier this month, Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza retired as Chief Election Commissioner upon completion of his five-year tenure amid the deadlock between the government and the opposition over nominees for the electoral body’s top post and two members from Sindh and Balochistan.
The ECP member from Punjab, Justice (retd) Altab Ibrahim, being a senior member of the commission, had taken oath as acting CEC.
It is to mention here that the government has proposed three names for the post of new CEC.
Prime Minister Khan proposed the names of incumbent ECP Secretary Babar Yaqoob and two former bureaucrats Abbas Mekan and Arif Khan for the CEC post.
Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shahbaz Sharif through a letter to Prime Minister Khan had proposed the names of two former bureaucrats Nasir Mehmood Khosa and Akhlaq Ahmed Tarar and former ambassador to the US Jalil Abbas Jillani for the top constitutional slot of the commission.