IHC adjourns ECP’s two appointments case till October

ISLAMABAD: The hearing of a case two appointments in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has been adjourned by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) till 11th October on Thursday.

IHC’s Justice Athar Minallah conducted the hearing over the petition against the appointment of two members on the vacant seats of ECP. Tariq Khokhar appeared in the hearing from the federal side of the government.

The high court gave the federal government 10 days for the submission of its written reply and adjourned the hearing till 11th October.

Earlier on 22nd August, President Dr. Arif Alvi had appointed two new members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

Khalid Mahmood Siddiqui and Munir Kakar have been appointed as ECP members from Sindh and Balochistan respectively, according to a notification issued by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.

The two seats of ECP members fell vacant after Abdul Ghaffar Soomro and retired Justice Shakeel Baloch the commission’s members from Sindh and Balochistan retired in January this year. The government is required to appoint their successors within 45 days of their retirement.

The delay was apparently caused by a lack of consensus between the government and opposition on the appointment of ECP members as meetings of a parliamentary committee comprising members from both sides ended in a stalemate.

Later, the appointments were rejected by the opposition parties and decided to take legal action against the appointments.