ISLAMABAD: Leader of the Opposition Shehbaz Sharif on Friday sent names of six nominees to Prime Minister Imran Khan for filling vacant posts of members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), but expressed displeasure that the government had not followed the Supreme Court’s ruling which required the PM’s “serious and meaningful” consultation with him on the matter.

The names put forward by the opposition leader are retired Justice Tariq Iftikhar Ahmed, Muhammad Javed Anwar, retired Justice Mushtaq Ahmed, Khalid Masood Chaudhry, Irfan Qadir and Irfan Ali.

In his letter, Mr Sharif said: “Judgement of the Supreme Court requires that the consultation has to be effective, meaningful, purposive, consensus-oriented, leaving no room for complaint of arbitrariness or unfair play, serious, sincere, and genuine efforts to evolve consensus, by all means.”

According to Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, the prime minister had sent a letter on Aug 26 to the opposition leader, proposing three names each for ECP members from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

For the vacant seat of ECP member from Punjab, Mr Khan had proposed the names of Ahsan Mahboob, Raja Amer Khan, and Dr Syed Pervaiz Abbas. And for the post of member from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he suggested the names of retired Justice Ikramullah Khan, Faridullah Khan, and Muzammil Khan.

As the names proposed by the prime minister on the one hand and those by the opposition leader on the other are all different, it remains to be seen whether they will be able to forge a consensus on the persons to be appointed to the vacant posts, as required under the Constitution.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2021