ISLAMABAD: The parliamentary committee on appointment of Election Commission of Pakistan members will meet here on Thursday to discuss appointment of the commission’s two members.

The committee will consider nominations by the government and the opposition for appointment as ECP members from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The two ECP members from Punjab and KP — Altaf Ibrahim Qureshi and Irshad Qaiser — respectively, retired on July 26 after completing their five-year constitutional term and the legal deadline for appointment of their successors within 45 days expired on September 9.

The prime minister has proposed the names of Ahsan Mahboob, former officer of the Police Service of Pakistan; Advocate Raja Amer Khan of the Supreme Court; and Dr Syed Pervaiz Abbas, a former officer of the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS), for the vacant post of the ECP member from Punjab.

For the appointment of ECP member from KP, the premier has suggested the names of retired Justice Ikramullah Khan, former PAS officer Faridullah Khan and Advocate Muzammil Khan of the Supreme Court.

Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Shehbaz Sharif has proposed six names for ECP member from Punjab and three from KP.

The names of retired justice Tariq Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Javed Anwar, retired justice Mushtaq Ahmed, Khalid Masood Chaudhry, Irfan Qadir and Irfan Ali have been proposed for ECP member from Punjab, whereas Syed Afsar Shah, Sardar Hussain Shah and Sohail Altaf have been nominated for ECP member from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Thursday’s meeting of the parliamentary committee will be chaired by Human Rights Minister Dr Shireen Mazari. Defence Minister Pervez Khatak, Minister for National Education and Vocational Training Shafqat Mehmood, Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar, Railways Minister Azam Swati and Senator Naseebullah Ullah Bazai will attend the meeting from the government side.

Rana Sanaullah, Shiza Fatima Khawaja, former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, Shahida Akhtar Ali and Sikandar Mandhro will represent the opposition at the meeting.

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2021