PM writes to opposition leader for appointing ECP members

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has written a letter to the opposition leader and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) president, Shehbaz Sharif, for filling the vacant posts of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) members, asking him to submit a response at the earliest.

According to the letter, the PM proposed the names of Ahsan Mahboob, ex-officer of the Police Service of Pakistan; Raja Amer Khan, advocate Supreme Court of Pakistan; and Dr Syed Pervaiz Abbas, a retired officer of the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS), for the vacant post of the ECP members from Punjab. Similarly, for appointment of the ECP member from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), the PM suggested the names of Justice (retd) Ikramullah Khan; ex-officer PAS Faridullah Khan; and advocate Supreme Court of Pakistan Muzammil Khan.

In a tweet, Information and Broadcasting Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain shared a copy of the letter, written by Premier Imran, saying the letter had suggested three names each for Punjab and KP provinces.

The ECP, he said, would be able to make appointments after the opposition leader’s response. Under the Constitution, the PM is required to initiate consultation with the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly for jointly recommending a panel of three consensus nominees per vacancy for confirmation of one of them by a parliamentary committee.

And, in case there is no agreement, the prime minister and the opposition leader are supposed to separately send three names each to the committee having equal representation from the treasury and opposition benches. The law mandates that no ECP position should stay vacant for more than 45 days.

But this requirement has already been met owing to sharp political differences between PM Imran and the opposition leader. The issue of appointment of ECP members from Sindh and Balochistan could not be resolved earlier for at least one year.

Two members of the Election Commission — Mrs Irshad Qaiser from KP and Altaf Ibrahim Qureshi — had retired in July this year after completing their five-year term.