PM, Shahbaz to discuss hiring of two ECP members

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan and leader of the opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif will engage in first-ever mandatory consultations to fill up two vacancies of members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The consultation is a constitutional requirement without which neither the ECP members nor the chief election commissioner (CEC) can be appointed, leading law expert Wasim Sajjad told The News when approached for his opinion.

Considering the tense relations between the consultees, the prime minister and opposition leaders are unexpected to directly talk to each other to pick up these nominations due to be made in the next few weeks, but they are likely to consult indirectly through their close aides.

Wasim Sajjad said the process and procedure for selection of the ECP members is similar to the appointment of the CEC, and added that they have the same constitutional protection of tenure and can’t be removed without following the method of removal a superior court judge as provided in the Constitution. Almost similar qualifications are needed for appointment as the CEC as well as ECP members. If the prime minister and opposition leader reach consensus on the persons to be nominated as the ECP members or the CEC, they are notified by the president.

Wasim Sajjad said that the Constitution provides the method to break any deadlock between the premier and the opposition leader so that these constitutional nominations are not blocked.

Under Article 213 of the Constitution, the prime minister will, in consultation with the leader of the opposition, forward three names for appointment of the CEC or every ECP member to a parliamentary committee for hearing and confirmation of any one person. In case there is no consensus between them, each will forward separate lists to the parliamentary committee for consideration which may confirm any one name.

The committee to be constituted by the Speaker shall comprise 50pc members from the treasury benches and 50pc from the opposition parties, based on their strength in Parliament, to be nominated by the respective parliamentary leaders. Its total strength will be 12 members out of which one-third will be from the Senate.

When the National Assembly is dissolved and a vacancy occurs in the office of the CEC or ECP members, total membership of the parliamentary committee will consist of the members from the Senate only.

As far as qualifications are concerned, the article says no person will be appointed to be CEC unless he has been a judge of the Supreme Court (high court judge in the case of ECP member) or has been a senior civil servant or is a technocrat and is not more than 68 (65 in case of ECP member) years of age.

Senior civil servant means a bureaucrat who has served for at least 20 years under federal or a provincial government and has retired in Grade -22 or above. Technocrat means a person who is the holder of a degree requiring conclusion of at least 16 years of education, recognised by the Higher Education Commission and has at least 20 years of experience, including a record of achievements at the national or international level.

Under Article 215, the CEC and ECP members will hold office for a term of five years from the day they enter upon their office. However, two of the members will retire after the expiration of first two and a half years and two will go after the expiration of the next two and a half years.

The ECP will for the first term of office of members draw a lot (which was held on Monday as a result of which Justice (retd) Abdul Ghaffar Soomro from Sindh and Justice (retd) Shakeel Ahmed Baloch from Balochistan will retire) as to which two members will retire after the first two a half years.

The term of office of a member appointed to fill a casual vacancy will be the unexpired term of the office of the member whose vacancy he has filled. Vacancy in the office of the CEC or a member will be filled within forty-five days.