IHC to hear appointment of two ECP members on Dec 31

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) will hear the appointment of two members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) case on 31st December.

Chief Justice Athar Minallah will conduct the hearing of the case from Sindh and Balochistan over the same case. 

Both the incumbent government and the opposition failed to emerge a pending decision on the appointment of the CEC and two members of the electoral body.

Earlier on 5th December, the opposition approached the Supreme Court over the appointment of the new CEC chief. In this regard, eleven opposition members signed the petition to the SC. The petition was filed by leaders of the opposition parties under Article 184(3) of the Constitution-making federation of Pakistan.

Prime Minister Khan proposed the names of incumbent ECP Secretary Babar Yaqoob and two former bureaucrats Abbas Mekan and Arif Khan for the CEC post.

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

Read more: ECP appointment panel drops plan to amend rules

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.