Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali takes oath as Acting CEC
Justice Jamali swears in as the 31st Acting Chief Election Commissioner (CEC).
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) -- Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali sworn in as the 31st Acting Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) on Thursday. Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani administered the oath to Justice Jamali in a ceremony at the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
The oath taking ceremony was attended by senior judges and lawyers of Supreme Court bar.
Justice Jamali has taken over from Justice Nasirul Mulk who resigned yesterday as acting CEC after being appointed as Chief Justice of Pakistan with effect from July 6. The incumbent CJ Jillani will renounce his duties from July 5.
Justice Jamali was elevated as judge of Sindh High Court in May 1998. He was nominated as Administrative Judge, High Court of Singh in 2006 where he continued for a year before refusing to take an oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order No.1 of 2007. Reappointed as Judge and Chief Justice High Court of Sindh in 2008 and elevated as Judge of Supreme Court in 2009, he is the third acting CEC to have been appointed in less than a year.
The CEC’s office became vacant when Justice (retd) Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim resigned last year on July 31 after the Supreme Court’s verdict of re-scheduling the presidential elections.
“In accordance with Article 215(3) of the Constitution, I hereby resign from the office of the Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan,” said Ebrahim in his resignation letter to the president.
According to the letter which was submitted to the president for approval, Ebrahim said: “I was appointed through a consultative process by the last Parliament. My constitutional term ends in 2017. However, in my humble opinion, the newly elected members of Parliament should have the opportunity to forge new consensus and choose a new Chief Election Commissioner. This will also allow the next Chief Election Commissioner sufficient time and opportunity to prepare and lead the Election Commission for the general elections of 2018.”
The presidential spokesman confirmed receipt of the letter. Ebrahim resigned after the Election Commission and the Supreme Court came under attack from lawmakers during a session of the National Assembly and the Senate. Some members demanded the resignation of chief election commissioner from his post. The presidential elections were originally scheduled to be held by the Election Commission on August 6. The commission had earlier rejected government’s request to change the poll date. Two days later when the Supreme Court ordered the commission to have elections on July 30 instead as filed by the federal government in a petition in the court, the CEC was displeased with the Supreme Court’s decision and saw it as an encroachment into the domain of the ECP by the apex court mandated under the constitution.
Therefore, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has been vacant since Justice retd Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim resigned on July 30, 2013. After his resignation, both Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani and Justice Nasirul Mulk have served as the acting Chief Election Commissioners.
