Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Omar Ayub Khan on Thursday submitted a request to National Assembly (NA) Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq to constitute a committee to appoint a new chief election commissioner (CEC) and two new members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
The constitutional deadline for the appointment of a new chief election commissioner and two members of the ECP expired on March 12, with no action from the government.
On Wednesday, it emerged that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif wrote a letter to Ayub inviting him to join consultations to appoint a new CEC. No exact date for a meeting was given, nor were any names released about prospective CECs in the letter, dated May 16.
In today’s letter to the NA speaker — seen by Dawn.com — Ayub recalled a previous letter written on January 15 in which he requested that the parliamentary process to appoint a new CEC be initiated.
“I am writing once again to remind you that a considerable period has passed since the expiry of the Chief Election Commissioner’s tenure,” Ayub wrote.
In accordance with parliamentary procedure, the opposition leader nominated six members of the opposition; two from the National Assembly and two from the Senate.
The nominees from the lower house were PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, former NA speaker Asad Qaiser, Sunni Ittehad Council Chairman Sahibzada Hamid Raza and MNA Latif Khosa.
Senators Shibli Faraz and Allama Raja Nasir were Ayub’s nominees from the upper house.
Ayub requested that “the process for the formation of the Parliamentary Committee under Article 213(2B) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (The parliamentary committee to be constituted by the speaker shall comprise fifty per cent members from the treasury benches and fifty per cent from the opposition parties) be initiated at the earliest, to facilitate the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and two members of the Election Commission of Pakistan from Sindh and Balochistan”.
The 26th Constitutional Amendment allowed the CEC and its members to continue until their successors take the position. As per Article 215(4) of the Constitution (vacancy in the office of the Commissioner or a membershall be filled within 45 days), the appointment of the CEC and members must be completed within 45 days.