ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is set to become non-functional after its members’ last working day in office on Friday with the commencement of a process for appointment of their replacement still not in sight.

All the four outgoing members of the ECP had taken the oath on June 13, 2011, and their term will end on June 12, but Friday will be the last working day for three of them. A member of the ECP from Punjab, retired Justice Riaz Kiani, had gone on earned leave last Monday ahead of his retirement.

Under Article 218 of the Constitution, the ECP comprises the Chief Election Commissioner and four members — one from each province.

Experts believe that under the Constitution, it is the duty of the Commission, and not that of the commissioner, to organise and conduct elections and make arrangements for holding elections honestly, justly, fairly and in accordance with law besides ensuring that corrupt practices are guarded against.

They say that by-elections to be held in the absence of ECP members will be questionable and the fate of cases the ECP is seized with will also hang in the balance till the appointment of new members.

Parliament recently passed a law to change the eligibility criteria of the Chief Election Commissioner and ECP members. The law was approved by President Mamnoon Hussain on Wednesday.

The parliamentary affairs ministry wrote a letter to the speaker of the National Assembly last month asking him to constitute a parliamentary committee for appointment of ECP members, but it somehow could not happen as yet.

Articles 213 and 218 of the Constitution outline the process for appointments of the CEC and ECP members, respectively.

The prime minister, in consultation with the opposition leader, is required to forward three names for appointment to every vacant post of the ECP “to a parliamentary committee for hearing and confirmation of any one person”.

In case there is no consensus between the prime minister and the opposition leader, they will forward separate lists to the committee for consideration and confirmation of any one individual.

Last time, the process for appointment of ECP members took some 14 months and nobody knows how much time would be required this time for the government and the opposition to agree on the names of four members.

Meanwhile, the parliament is yet to approve a pending bill meant to give legal cover to the payment of salary to outgoing ECP members.

The ECP members have been provisionally drawing their salary since their appointment in June 2011.

The members draw salary and perks equivalent to that of a sitting high court judge, which includes a salary of Rs 527,270, a judicial allowance of Rs 207,207 and a house rent of Rs65,000.

The issue was raised in the Senate by Sherry Rehman of the Pakistan Peoples Party who said that an amount of Rs410 million had been disbursed in salary and other perks of the four members of the ECP whose five-year term ends on Friday (today), without following a regular procedure.

Independent senator Mohsin Leghari also expressed his view on the issue and the matter was finally referred by the chair to the Senate Finance Committee with an order to submit an interim report by Monday.

Published in Dawn, June 10th, 2016