SC moved against changing rules regarding ECP appointments

SC moved against changing rules regarding ECP appointments

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – The change in the parliamentary committee’s rules regarding the appointment of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) members has been challenged in Supreme Court today (Wednesday). The plaintiff has said that the government wants to appoint its favorite members in the commission and that the recruitment should follow parliament’s two-third majority process. He further requested to ban change in the rules through ordinance. Earlier, Islamabad High Court (IHC) had granted 15-day time to the federal government for the appointment of ECP members. During the hearing, the court was told that several members of parliamentary committee were unable to attend the meeting on Monday due to dense fog. The rules formed by the previous committee are not suitable in current scenario, legal advisor said.

The Chief Justice of IHC said the court can only expect that the opposition leaders and Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan jointly select names for the posts. Only parliamentary committee can change the rules, he asserted. It is to be mentioned here that the government and the opposition forwarded their nominations for appointment of ECP members to Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser and chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjarani, who then forwarded it to the parliamentary committee for consideration.

Earlier, PM Office had raised objections on the names recommended by opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif for the appointment of Chief Election Commissioner. The suggested names were Nasir Mehmood Khosa, Jalil Abbas Jilani and Akhlaq Ahmed Tarar.

Jaleel Abbas Jilani remained principal secretary of former premier Nawaz Sharif and worked as chief secretary Punjab under CM Shehbaz Sharif.

Nasir Mehmood Khosa is considered close to Sharif family and Akhlaq Tarar has also worked as federal secretary.

Shehbaz Sharif maintained that PM Imran should have initiated this process of consultation a long time ago. I am starting this procedure to prevent the ECP from getting non-functional, the PML-N leader added.

The letter by PML-N president also comprised three names each from Sindh and Balochistan for their nominations as the ECP members. From Sindh, the opposition leader had recommended Nisar Durrani, Justice (retd) Abdul Rasul Memon and Aurangzeb Haq.

The names of Advocate Supreme Court Shah Muhammad Jatoi, former advocate general Muhammad Rauf Atta and Rahila Durrani were also proposed from Balochistan.