Appointment of ECP members: PM, opposition leader asked to submit names
Names sent by both leaders would be sent to parliamentary committee.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – In an important development, PM and opposition leader in National Assembly have been asked to submit 3 names for members of Election Commission of Pakistan to be appointed.
Sources said Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjarani and Speaker Asad Qaisar have written a letter to PM and opposition leader Shehbaz Sarif.
Sources said names sent by both leaders would be sent to parliamentary committee.
On Aug 22, President Arif Alvi appointed Khalid Mehmood Siddiqui from Sindh and Munir Ahmed Kakar from Balochistan against the two ECP positions, which had fallen vacant after completion of the terms of Abdul Ghaffar Soomro and retired Justice Shakeel Baloch from the respective provinces.
The lawmakers challenged the notification issued by the president for the appointment of Mr Siddiqui and Mr Kakar as ECP members from Sindh and Balochistan, respectively.
In their petitions, the lawmakers contended before the court that since Prime Minister Imran Khan and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif had failed to develop consensus on the names of ECP members, the parliamentary committee on the appointment of the chief election commissioner and ECP members was deliberating upon the names for vacant positions in the ECP.
According to the petitions, it was a surprise for the lawmakers that instead of following the procedure laid down by the Constitution and the superior courts, President Alvi had made the appointments through his discretionary powers.
The petitions said that the criteria for appointment of the chief election commissioner and ECP members had been provided in the Constitution.The petitions contended that the notification issued for the appointment of ECP members on Aug 22 was in violation of Articles 213 and 218 of the Constitution.
The petitions pointed out that due to the “grave illegality, the chief election commissioner has refused to administer oath” to the newly appointed ECP members.
According to the petitions, there is no constitutional provision which allows the president to appoint Mr Siddiqui and Mr Kakar by invoking his discretionary powers. After the passage of the 18th Constitution Amendment, the president has lost his discretion to appoint members of the ECP.
The petitioners said the president, prime minister and parliamentary affairs secretary could not complete the constitutional process as a five-member Supreme Court bench had specifically provided guidelines for appointments in the ECP.
They said the appointment of both ECP members-designate had been made without following the due process and that it was marred with nepotism and favoritism. They requested the court to set aside these appointments.
The petitions cited President Alvi, Prime Minister Imran Khan, the parliamentary affairs secretary, CEC, Mr Siddiqui and Mr Kakar as respondents.
The petitioners said the president’s decision to appoint the two ECP members was unconstitutional as it was issued “in violation of clauses 2A and 2B of Article 213 of the Constitution”.
