ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has written a letter to opposition leader in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif for filling the vacant posts of members in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry shared a copy of the letter on his official Twitter handle, saying that the Prime Minister has asked the PML-N president to submit response ‘at the earliest’.
Two members of the ECP from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa retired on July 26 so two vacancies currently exist. According to the letter, the premier had suggested three names each for Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.
The ECP, Fawad Chaudhry said, would be able to make appointments after the opposition’s response to the names suggested by the prime minister.
As per the letter, the premier proposed 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.
