ISLAMABAD - The appointment of new chief election commissioner is likely to see further delay as both the ruling coalition and opposition forces are yet to proceed with the modalities for filling in the esteemed electoral slot that fell vacant following the retirement of Justice (Retd) Hamid Ali Mirza last month.
Though informal deliberations between the ruling and opposition parties for the new CEC appointment were reported to have taken place soon after the retirement of Justice (Retd) Mirza on the last March 23, the official course of action that envisages government, opposition consensus and the approval of a related parliamentary committee to this effect is yet to be adopted. Till date, no such move on initiating official deliberations for the chief election commissioner appointment appears on the cards. The existing scenario implies that pending yet much delayed preparation drive for Electoral Rolls 2011 may land in doldrums. The ER 2011 were scheduled to be prepared in November 2011, and later in February 2012. They are now scheduled by May 23 this year with the lingering appointment of new CEC forecasting further delay in ER 2011 despite the Supreme Court orders to prepare the electoral rolls at the earliest.
As reported in TheNation on March 24 last, three retired SC judges’ names were informally considered, to be short-listed for finalising the name of new CEC. These included Justice (Retd) Sardar Raza, Justice (Retd) Ghulam Rabbani and Justice (Retd) Javaid Iqbal.
Reportedly, the ruling Pakistan People’s Party had consulted the allies and opposition parties for developing consensus over new CEC appointment last month but following the deadlock between ruling coalition and the opposition parties over NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) supplies resumption, the CEC appointment issue has landed at the backburner.
A PPP leader, requesting anonymity, confirmed that the appointment of chief election commissioner would see further delay as PPP and allies were busy trying to woo the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Jamiat Uelama-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) support on agreeing to resume NATO supplies. “The NATO supplies issue has taken the centre-stage.”
On the other hand, the PPP Member National Assembly (MNA) and former State Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Mehreen Anwar Raja did not see any delay in this regard. “Parliamentary procedures may take long but provisions of due processes in the light of the 20th amendment have to be followed. This may take some time. You need not to panic and get impatient,” she suggested to this scribe.
In the light of 20th amendment, the prime minister and leader of opposition, upon consensus, are to forward three retired SC judges’ names in a parliamentary committee on CEC appointment. The said committee that is to have the members of ruling and opposition parties, is to finalise the CEC name of the three given names and the finalised name is to be sent to the president for final nod. In case of deadlock between PM and opposition leader, three separate names each are forwarded to the parliamentary committee by the PM and leader of opposition for choosing one name. The said parliamentary committee has not been constituted as yet.
Presently, senior SC judge Justice Shakirullah Jan has assumed responsibilities as Acting CEC till new chief election commissioner takes over.  Apart from the three retired judges being considered for appointing anyone of them as CEC, some other retired SC judges’ names that were discussed but rejected either by the government or opposition include Justice (Retd) Khalil-ur-Rehman, Ramday, Justice (Retd) Syed Sajjad Ali Shah, Justice (Retd) Syed Deedar Hussain Shah and Justice (Retd) Abdul Hameed Dogar.
A few days back, Presidential Spokesperson Fathatullah Babar had hoped that consensus between political parties would be arrived at, for appointing the CEC. Parliament would also be consulted in this regard, he had told TheNation.