ISLAMABAD: Following resignation of Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Friday appointed Justice Nasirul Mulk as new Acting Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of Pakistan.

Justice Mulk will take oath as the acting CEC on Saturday at 11am by the chief justice.

Justice Tassaduq Jillani had relinquished his charge after approving to assume the role of new chief justice of Pakistan from December 12.

The new chief justice will hold the office for seven months and 18 days as he will reach superannuation on July 5 next year.

Following his resignation, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) wrote a letter to the chief justice for the appointment of a new chief election commissioner earlier in the day.

Justice Jillani had taken charge as the acting CEC in Aug 2013 following the resignation of Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim from the post.

Ebrahim’s resignation

Ebrahim's resignation had come after the Election Commission 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 chief election commissioner resign from his post over the Supreme Court’s intervention on the date of the presidential election.

Then CEC Ebrahim was displeased with the court’s decision and saw it as “an encroachment into the domain of the ECP by the apex court mandated under the constitution.”

He had also written a note declaring the court’s decision an attack on the independence of the ECP, and wanted his fellow members to endorse it and hold the presidential election according to the original schedule. However, he was unable to get the support of three of the four available members.