The government and opposition parties are considering bringing forth new names for the posts of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and two members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), according to a media report on Monday.
“Neither side is willing to accept the other’s proposals, and hence the deadlock continues, which may be broken with the new recommendations,” the media outfit quoted a source involved in the negotiations as saying.
According to the report, the government is insistent on appointing Babar Yaqoob Fateh as the CEC but the opposition is not willing to agree on his name.
A 12-member parliamentary committee on appointment of the CEC and ECP members headed by Federal Minister Dr Shireen Mazari has held a number of meetings to hammer out a consensus but failed to make any worthwhile progress.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) are strongly opposed to the name of Babar Yaqoob Fateh.
The post of the CEC is lying vacant since the retirement of Justice (r) Sardar Raza on Dec 6, whereas the positions of the two ECP members were empty for a year now.
The two constitutional consultees have not met even once to work out an agreement on these important appointments as Imran Khan is averse to any such contact with Shehbaz Sharif.
However, more than once, they have forwarded their respective recommendations to the parliamentary committee for consideration and decision as prescribed in the Constitution.
