ISLAMABAD: With the third deadline set by the Supreme Court for the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ending on Monday, the government is reported to have decided to seek more time to fill the key constitutional office lying vacant for over 16 months.

Sources told Dawn that the decision was taken after consultation on phone between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah who is in London on a private visit.

The sources said the government had already informed Attorney General Salman Aslam Butt about the decision and directed him to apprise the court about reasons for not meeting the Nov 24 deadline.

Read: PM, Shah likely to finalise CEC appointment on phone

They said the government would seek at least two weeks because Prime Minister Sharif is scheduled to leave for Kathmandu, Nepal, on Monday to attend the Saarc summit and the opposition leader would be returning to the country on Wednesday.

When contacted, Khursheed Shah said he had received a phone call from Mr Sharif two days ago. He confirmed that the court would be approached with a request to grant more time for consultations on the matter.

The PPP leader blamed PTI chief Imran Khan for the failure of the government and the opposition to agree on one name for the post and said that because of criticism by Mr Khan of every person named for the CEC office no-one was willing to accept the post.

Mr Shah regretted that they were about to reach a consensus on the name of former chief justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, but he refused to accept the post after the PTI chairman started criticising him in his speeches.

Earlier, Information Minister Pervez Rashid stated that the names of the possible candidates for the post were being kept secret deliberately to offset PTI’s move to “derail the appointment process”.

Published in Dawn, November 24th , 2014