Parliamentary body 'reach consensus' over Punjab ECP member

ISLAMABAD: Parliamentary committee on appointment of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) members from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has reached a consensus on the name for the Punjab member, ARY NEWS reported.

The parliamentary committee met on Wednesday with Federal Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari in the chair and according to sources, a consensus is likely to be made on the name of Punjab ECP member.

“Raja Amir’s name is likely to be finalized for the ECP member from Punjab,” they said adding that his name was proposed by Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The sources further shared that a division was also created among the PTI members in the committee over whether a Punjab or a KP member should be from the prime minister’s proposed list.

Defence Minister Pervez Khattak said that the KP member should be from the PTI list while Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry supported PTI nominated member from Punjab.

The opposition members, according to sources, asked the government to first evolve a consensus among their ranks to which Federal Minister Asad Umar sought time for consensus and said that the government team would consult the prime minister in this regard.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has previously written a letter to Opposition leader in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, recommending three names each for the vacant seats for members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in Punjab and KP provinces.

For Punjab, Imran Khan suggested names of Ahsan Mahboob, a retired BS-22 officer of Police Service of Pakistan, Raja Amer Khan, Advocate Supreme Court of Pakistan, Dr. Syed Pervaiz Abbas, a retired BS-22 officer of Pakistan Administrative Service.

For the vacant ECP seat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), the prime minister recommended the names of Justice (retd) Ikramullah Khan, Faridullah Khan, a retired BS-22 officer of PAS and Muzammil Khan, Advocate Supreme Court of Pakistan.

The opposition leader proposed six names for the vacant Punjab seats in the ECP that included Justice (retd) Tariq Iftikhar, Justice (retd) Mushtaq Ahmed, Khalid Maqsood, Javed Anwar, former attorney general Irfan Qadir, and Irfan Ali.

Furthermore, Shehbaz Sharif suggested names of Afsar Shah, Sardar Hussain, Sohail Altaf to the prime minister for vacant KP seats.