Parliamentary committee for the appointment of members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from provinces has been reconstituted. Meeting of the committee will be convened next week to decide on the appointment of four members of the ECP.
In this connection, leader of the opposition Syed Khursheed Shah has sent a letter to the National Assembly (NA) Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq for nominating opposition members in the committee.
After Malik Rafiq Ahmad Rajwana was appointed the governor of Punjab, the government nominated Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Pervaiz Rashid to lead the committee.
The information minister met the leader of the opposition in his chamber at the Parliament House and exchanged views on the appointment of members of the election committee and formation of the parliamentary committee.
The two sides agreed that provincial members in the ECP should be appointed without delay.
Later talking to media, Syed Khursheed Shah said that while the appointed Pervaiz Rashid was in place of governor Rajwana, the PPP has nominated Yusuf Talpur in the committee, as a member, in place of Ayaz Soomro who has gone abroad for treatment.
Other members of the committee include Senator Sardar Yaqoob Khan Nasir, Senator Islamuddin Sheikh and Senator Haji Ilyas Bilour who has been nominated in place of Haji Adeel. Members of the NA in the committee include Arshad Khan Leghari, Dr Darshan, Mohammad Junaid Chaudhry, Captain (retd) Mohammad Safdar, Shazia Mari, PTI’s Shahryar Afridi and MQM’s Dr Farooq Sattar.
Syed Khursheed Shah said after the 22nd amendment in the constitution, retired bureaucrats can also become members of the election commission in addition to retired judges.
He said it would be the endeavour of all the parties to appoint undisputed retired civil servants as members of the ECP, while retired judges could also be nominated. He said a decision in this connection would be made by the parliamentary committee.
In reply to a question, Syed Khursheed Shah said while the Chief Election Commissioner is appointed in consultation with the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition, the members of the ECP are appointed by the parliamentary committee.
He said at present the ECP is non-functional and he has suggested the government to appoint four members of the commission as early as possible.
