ISLAMABAD: Retired Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan was finally sworn in as the 14th Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) on Saturday at a time when the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is in the eye of the storm after controversial elections of last year.

And soon after the ceremony the new CEC conceded that “I have many challenges to face”.

When reporters asked about the challenges he thought he would face, especially when a major political party was accusing the ECP of holding rigged elections, Justice Khan replied that he would do whatever was under his control and whatever his oath commanded him to do.

He was administered oath by Chief Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk in the presence of Supreme Court judges, Attorney General Salman.

His appointment was appreciated by the chief justice when in an informal chat with reporters he said it was a positive sign that a non-controversial choice had been made.

The court had warned the government that it would withdraw one of his judges officiating as the acting CEC.

When asked whether it was a wise step to become the CEC after quitting the office of the chief justice of the Federal Shariat Court, Chief Justice Mulk said it was Justice Khan’s choice.

Yasin Azad, a former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, said: “The credit goes to the Supreme Court for compelling the government as well as the opposition to come up with a widely acclaimed and acceptable nominee to become the CEC after a delay of over 16 months.”

He said now it was up to the new CEC to make the commission so independent, strong and powerful that nobody dared point finger at its decisions.

Electoral experts agreed that it would not be an easy task for Justice Khan since he had a plate full of issues before him that needed his immediate attention.

The biggest test for the new CEC, they say, is to improve the image of the commission that has been tarnished badly because of scathing criticism day in and day out for holding what the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s chief Imran Khan terms flawed and highly rigged elections. Mr Khan is not alone and his contention is supported by the PPP.

A senior counsel said Justice Khan had a gigantic task to make the commission so independent that the future elections under him would be considered to be reliable and credible.

The all powerful CEC had been rendered a mere member of the commission after the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, he said and added that it would be Justice Khan’s onerous duty to exercise his influence over the remaining four members in a way that whatever his predecessor did was not repeated in future.

Former CEC Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim, he recalled, had to resign on July 30 last year when he failed to get the much needed support from three of the four members of the commission after the Supreme Court amended the schedule for presidential elections on a petition by a PML-N legislator without hearing other parties. The former CEC was of the view that the court’s decision was nothing short of encroachment on the ECP’s domain.

The immediate challenge the new CEC would face is holding the local government elections in a free, fair and impartial manner after a delay of over nine years, that too after conducting an error-free delimitation of the councils and wards in Sindh and Punjab, the counsel said. The delimitation of constituencies done by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has already won praises of the court.

Next in line are elections for the 52 seats of the 104-member Senate that will fall vacant in the March.

In addition, the ECP needs innovative and commanding officers who can get its decisions implemented in a way that no federal secretary or provincial chief secretary may overrule them.

Currently the commission is without a permanent secretary.

Published in Dawn, December 7th, 2014