Outgoing Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and opposition leader in the now-dissolved provincial assembly Rana Ansar agreed on Monday to propose the name of former Supreme Court judge Maqbool Baqar for the interim CM’s slot.

PPP leader Murtaza Wahab announced this in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, just as the deadline for Murad and Ansar to finalise a name for the caretaker chief minister was about to end.

“This is to inform that the consultative process between Sindh CM and the opposition leader under Article 224(1A) took place on 12th,13th and 14th of August.

“Both the leaders have agreed to propose the name of Justice Maqbool Baqar sahib as the caretaker chief minister,” Wahab wrote on X.

A short while later, MQM-P’s Ansar also confirmed the development while speaking to the media at the CM House.

She said there were several names under consideration for the position and “this name was chosen with the consensus of leadership from both sides”.

Moreover, she said the Grand Democratic Alliance — an ally of her party in the opppsition — was also consulted on the matter.

Baqar’s name was proposed by both sides, she added.

Murtaza also spoke to the media after her, where he said the CM and opposition leader’s recommendations to appoint Baqar as the interim CM had been sent to the Sindh governor for approval.

Murad and Ansar were to agree on a name for the caretaker CM within three days of the dissolution of the Sindh Assembly on Friday, else the matter would have been referred to a committee constituted by the assembly speaker.

Had the committee failed to finalise a name in three days, it would have been left to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to decide a name for the slot.

Until yesterday, political circles had not ruled out the possibility of the matter falling into the hands of the ECP with Murad and Ansar not having reached a consensus after two rounds of talks.