Govt cannot remove CEC, ECP members

ISLAMABAD: The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and the four members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) cannot be removed by the government or any other authority and their ouster is possible only by following the constitutional procedure applicable to the exit of a superior court judge.

A reference is required to be sent to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) against the CEC or any member of the ECP for his expulsion. There are three ways in which the CEC or an ECP member can be removed. They themselves resign, they are held guilty of misconduct by the SJC or are incapable of performing their functions due to physical or mental incapacity.

Article 215 of the Constitution says the CEC or an ECP member will not be removed from office except in the manner prescribed in Article 209 for the dismissal from office of a judge. The SJC consists of the Chief Justice of Pakistan; the two next most senior Judges of the Supreme Court; and the two most senior chief justices of the high courts. The seniority of the high court chief justices will be determined with reference to their dates of appointment as chief justice and in case such dates are the same, with reference to their dates of appointment as high court judges.

Article 209 states: “If, on information from any source, the president is of the opinion that a judge of the Supreme Court or of a high court may be incapable of properly performing the duties of his office by reason of physical or mental incapacity; or may have been guilty of misconduct, the president will direct the SJC to, or the SJC may, on its own motion, inquire into the matter. If, after inquiring into the matter, the SJC reports to the president that it is of the opinion that the judge is incapable of performing the duties of his office or has been guilty of misconduct, and that he should be removed from office, the President may remove the judge from office.”

The ECP comprises CEC Sikandar Sultan Raja and its four members are Justice Altaf Ibrahim Qureshi, Justice Ms Irshad Qaiser, Nisar Ahmed Durrani and Shah Muhammad Jatoi.

In January 2020, CEC Sikandar Sultan Raja and Nisar Durrani and Shah Muhammad Jatoi, members from Sindh and Balochistan, were appointed after a consensus between Prime Minister Imran Khan and leader of the opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif. The name of Sikandar Sultan Raja was recommended by the premier and the opposition leader agreed to it. The same happened in the cases of the two members.

Despite facing intense criticism, no CEC, except Fakhruddin G Ebrahim, or any ECP member has ever quit in Pakistan’s history. In July 2013, Fakhruddin G Ebrahim resigned from his post a week after the Supreme Court ordered the ECP to hold the presidential election ahead of its original schedule.

“I was appointed through a consultative process by the last parliament. My constitutional term ends in 2017. However, in my humble opinion, the newly elected members of parliament should have the opportunity to forge a new consensus and choose a new CEC. This will also allow the next CEC sufficient time and opportunity to prepare and lead the ECP for the general elections of 2018,” said his letter which he submitted to the president for approval. The resignation came after the ECP and the Supreme Court came under fire from lawmakers during a session of the National Assembly and the Senate, with some members demanding that the CEC resign from his post.

Presidential elections were originally scheduled by the ECP to be held on August 6, and the ECP had earlier rejected a government request to change the date of the poll. However, two days later, the apex court ordered the ECP to hold elections on July 30 as sought by the federal government in a petition filed in the court. The CEC was displeased by the Supreme Court’s decision and saw it as an encroachment into the domain of the ECP, mandated under the Constitution, by the apex court.