- NA speaker writes letter to opposition leader.
- Outline the constitutional process for formation of committees.
- Says consultations between PM Opposition leads ongoing.
Islamabad: The National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq has rejected opposition leader Omar Ayub’s demand to form a parliamentary committee to appoint a new chief election commissioner (CEC) and two members of the Election Commission in Pakistan (ECP) and say that the process cannot continue without prior consultation between the Prime Minister and the opposition leader.
“Formation of the parliamentary committee cannot take place until the consultation process between the Prime Minister and the opposition leader has ended,” the speaker Ayaz Sadiq wrote in a letter while responding to Ayub’s request.
Earlier on Thursday, Omar Ayub formally requested that the prosecutor under the house should constitute the committee to initiate the appointment process.
He nominated six opposition members – four from the National Assembly and two from the Senate. The nominees from the lower house include MNA barister Gohar Ali Khan, MNA Asad Qaiser, MNA Hamid Raza and MNA Latif Khosa.
The Senate Nominated includes Senator Shibli Faraz and Allama Raja Nasir Abbas.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had previously initiated the consultation process by writing a letter to Omar Ayub on May 16 and inviting him to participate in discussions about the appointments.
In response to Omar Ayub’s letter, Sadiq outlined the constitutional process of forming committees. He confirmed that consultations between Prime Minister Shehbaz and the opposition leader are in progress and emphasized that the committee can only be formed after both parties submit their proposed names.
“If the Prime Minister and the opposition leader do not reach a consensus, the case will be referred to the NA speaker, who will then continue to form a parliamentary committee,” the letter states.
Following a formal request from the Prime Minister, the speaker will then ask parliamentary leaders to submit names to the committee. “The committee will be set up based on party presentation in the National Assembly, and names will be included proportionally,” he managed.
It is relevant to know that the five -year period Cec Sikandar Sultan Raja ended on January 26 with two other members of the Election Commission, ie. Nisar Ahmad Durrani (Sindh) and Shah Muhammad Jatoi (Balochistan).
The procedure for appointing CEC and members of the Election Commission is explained in Article 213 of the Constitution, where the Prime Minister and the opposition leader send three names to the president by consensus.
If there is no agreement on the names, the Prime Minister and the opposition leader will send their respective names to the parliamentary committee, after which the National Assembly’s speeches will form a parliamentary committee of 12 members who have equal representation from the Treasury and opposition benches.
The committee sends a name from these names to the president for approval after a consensus.
Under Article 217, at the expiry of the CEC period, the top member assumes that the supreme election commissioner and in the event of his absence or vacancies shall assume that responsibility.
The other two members of the electoral body have over two years to continue as the election period of the election commission member (ECM) from Punjab Babar Hassan Bharwana ends on May 29, 2027, whereas the expression of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Member Justice (RETD) Ikramullah Khan will expire on May 31, 2027.
However, due to the deep political polarization, there had been no previous hint of contact between the Prime Minister and the opposition leader in the National Assembly to consider new names.
PTI has already moved Islamabad High Court over the case with Ayub and Senate’s opposition leader Shibli Faraz, who challenged the delay in appointing a new CEC in March earlier this year.
The petition names the federal government, the chairman of the Senate, the National Assembly’s Speeches and ECP as respondents.
