ISLAMABAD: A key government minister said on Thursday the names of the possible candidates for the office of the chief election commissioner (CEC) were intentionally being kept secret to offset PTI’s move to “derail the appointment process”.

Another important cabinet member hinted that the issue of the appointment of the chief election commissioner might be referred to the parliamentary committee concerned before the Supreme Court’s deadline of Nov 24 to fill the key constitutional office that has been lying vacant for the past 16 months.

“Why should we disclose names? Whenever we are close to a consensus on one candidate, Imran Khan starts abusing him while standing on his container. He has already derailed the process,” said Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid in his apparent reference to the refusal of the former chief justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani to accept the CEC post following criticism on him by the PTI chairman in his speeches.

When his attention was drawn towards the fact that the Supreme Court’s third deadline is just three days away, he said the consultation process was going on within the ruling party as well as with the opposition, and they were making sincere efforts to comply with the court’s directive.

The minister, however, said if they failed to meet even the new deadline, they could ask the court to grant more time.

“And if the court refuses to give us more time, we will do what the court will say,” he said.

Mr Rashid indirectly blamed Opposition Leader Syed Khurshid Shah for the delay in the process, saying that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was waiting for his return to the country for a meeting on the issue.

Mr Shah has been on a private visit to the UK for the last two weeks and he reportedly plans to return to the country on Nov 26, two days after the expiry of the court’s deadline.

When asked about the possibility of a telephonic conversation between the prime minister and the opposition leader, he said such crucial discussions and consultations could not take place by telephone. Moreover, he said, constitutionally it was the responsibility of the prime minister and the opposition leader to appoint the CEC, but both of them could not do so without taking the other political parties on board on the matter.

When contacted, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar without elaborating said that “efforts are under way for a consensus panel of three between the leaders of the house and the opposition”.

The statement of Mr Dar, who had been in contact with the opposition leader on the CEC issue through telephone, indicates that both the government and the opposition may send three consensus names to the parliamentary committee on the appointment of the CEC before the Nov 24 deadline.

By doing so, political experts believe, the government can seek more time from the court by telling it that the matter is lying pending before the parliamentary committee.

Earlier, the SC had set October 28 and November 13 deadlines for the CEC’s appointment, threatening to withdraw acting CEC Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, a serving judge of the Supreme Court.

If no new names are suggested by any side, then so far former Supreme Court judge retired Justice Tariq Pervez Khan is the only candidate left for the possible appointment as the CEC after an elimination process that knocked off five others for different reasons.

The issue of the CEC appointment had suffered a blow when former chief justice Tassaduq Jillani and retired Justice Rana Bhagwandas, the two persons on whose names the government and the opposition had almost reached an agreement, declined to accept the post.

The opposition leader had earlier rejected the government’s nominee retired Justice Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui and the prime minister had also refused to accept the opposition’s nominee retired Justice Mian Ajmal.

Rejecting all the names that came under discussion between Mr Sharif and Mr Shah at a meeting between them earlier this month, the protesting PTI had proposed the name of retired Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid. Both the government and the PPP, however, gave a cold shoulder to the PTI’s proposal.

The office of the CEC fell vacant when retired Justice Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim resigned in July last year amid allegations of rigging and irregularities in general elections by almost all the political parties of the country.

Before the passage of the 18th Constitution Amendment, the CEC was appointed by the president but now under Article 213 of the Constitution, the prime minister, in consultation with the leader of opposition, is required to forward three names to the parliamentary committee for confirmation of one of them.

Published in Dawn, November 21th, 2014