The government has reached out to the opposition to fill the vacant posts of the Election Commission of Pakistan.
In this regard, as per Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry, Prime Minister Imran Khan has written a letter to opposition leader and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz President Shehbaz Sharif, asking him to submit a response “at the earliest”.
Fawad shared a copy of the letter written by the premier, saying the latter had suggested three names each for Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.
The ECP, he said, would be able to make appointments after the opposition’s response to the names suggested by the prime minister.
According to the letter, Prime Minister Imran has proposed the names of Ahsan Mahboob, ex-officer of the Police Service of Pakistan; Raja Amer Khan, advocate Supreme Court of Pakistan; and Dr Syed Pervaiz Abbas, a retired officer of the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) for the vacant post of the ECP member from Punjab.
For the appointment of the ECP member from KP, the premier has suggested the names of retired Justice Ikramullah Khan; Faridullah Khan, ex-officer PAS; and Muzammil Khan, advocate Supreme Court of Pakistan.
Under the Constitution, the prime minister is required to initiate consultations with the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly for jointly recommending a panel of three consensus nominees per vacancy for confirmation of one of them by a parliamentary committee.
In case there is no agreement, the prime minister and the opposition leader are supposed to separately send three names each to the committee having equal representation from the treasury and opposition benches. The law mandates that no ECP position should stay vacant for more than 45 days.
