Justice Qureshi takes oath as acting CEC

By News Desk

ISLAMABAD: Justice (retd) Altaf Ibrahim Qureshi was sworn in as the acting Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) on Friday.

The oath-taking ceremony was held at Election Commission of Pakistan headquarters, which was attended by senior ECP officials. Justice Qureshi, who is a senior member of the ECP from Punjab, takes over from Justice (retd) Sardar Mohammad Raza, whose tenure ended on December 5.

The ECP has been rendered dysfunctional as it currently has only two members out of five, whereas under the law, there should be at least three members on the bench to hear cases.

A day earlier, Prime Minister Imran Khan had recommended the names of Fazal Abbas, Babar Yaqoob and Arif Khan for the post of CEC. The approval from the Prime Minister came on the last day of Justice Raza’s tenure and after the opposition moved the Supreme Court to intervene in the matter.