ISLAMABAD - Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly (NA) Syed Khursheed Shah has said that opposition parties would propose chief election commissioner's (CEC) name to the prime minister within a week.
"The name will be proposed in a week after consultations with main opposition parties," said Shah, confirming that the prime minister has sought the name from opposition for appointment of the CEC.
Shah wrote a letter to the prime minister a couple of days before asking him to immediately appoint a regular CEC in the country. The office of CEC has been vacant since Justice (Retd) Fakhruddin G Ebrahim resigned in July 2013. The government and opposition factions could not reach a consensus for the appointment of CEC due to some legal hitches.
The opposition leader had reportedly accused the incumbent government of delaying the process by not taking special interest in it. Due to the impasse over the issue, the Supreme Court had set a deadline, which also expired on March 19 last.
The government paving the way to appoint Rana Bhagwandas on the post had got passed 'The Federal Public Service Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2014' in the Lower House with certain amendments. But, the matter could not be resolved even by this move.
To a question about election reforms, Shah said that the names would also be proposed for election reforms committee
He said all political parties would be taken onboard in this most important decision for an independent and fair commission, which is the most important base of the democracy.