ISLAMABAD - The government and the opposition are optimistic that appointment of Chief Election Commissioner and members of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to be finalized in the upcoming meeting of the Parliamentary Committee to be held on December 30.

The committee in its previous meeting on Tuesday had failed to have a consensus over the fresh appointments in the Election Commission.

However, a credible source in opposition parties which is also a part of the committee formed for the resolution of ECP issue told The Nation that things were on the right track and both the parties were likely to have a consensus over the appointments in the upcoming meeting.

The source said that the matter of members of ECP from Sindh and Balochistan was resolved through mutual understanding and the deadlock on the CEC was likely to be ended in next meeting.

The source elaborated that the opposition wanted to appoint Jalil Abbas Jilani as a CEC but the government on the other hand insisted on the name of Baber Yaqoob for the post.

The source informed The Nation that it was the responsibility of the government to take on board the opposition on any issue of national interest, but the incumbent government was lacking such ability which was one of the reasons of disagreement, he said.

Earlier, the Senate chairman and the National Assembly speaker had requested the Islamabad High Court to grant 10 more days for the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and the ECP members as the government and opposition despite several meetings had failed to resolve the issue.

The decision was taken after another meeting held in the NA speaker’s chamber failed to nominate candidates for the posts of CEC and ECP members from Sindh and Balochistan.

It is pertinent to mention that the Prime Minister had proposed three names each for the seats of members of the ECP from Sindh and Balochistan in separate letters to Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani and NA Speaker Asad Qaiser. From Sindh, the premier proposed the names of retired judges Sadiq Bhatti, Noorul Haq Qureshi and Abdul Jabbar Qureshi, whereas from Balochistan, Dr Faiz Kakar, Naveed Jan Baloch and Amanullah Baloch were proposed.

Meanwhile, Shahbaz Sharif in a letter to the Prime Minister had proposed the names of Nisar Durrani, Justice (retd) Abdul Rasul Memon and Aurangzeb Haq from Sindh, and from Balochistan, he suggested the names of Supreme Court lawyer Shah Muhammad Jatoi, former advocate general of the province Muhammad Rauf Atta and Rahila Durrani. In another letter to the premier, Shahbaz also proposed three names for the post of CEC. The opposition leader proposed Nasir Mahmood Khosa, Jalil Abbas Jilani and Akhlaq Ahmad Tarar for the coveted post.