CEC appointment: PTI nominates lawmakers for parliamentary committee
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PTI leader and Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Omar Ayub Khan addresses a press conference. — APP/File
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On Thursday, the Pakistan Tehreek -e -Insaf (PTI) nominated lawmakers for the parliamentary committee for the appointment of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and members of the Election Commission of Pakistan.
In sharing the names of the opposition leaders, the leading opposition party has asked the government to launch a parliamentary committee for the appointment of Article 213 (2B) for the appointment of CEC and two members from Sindh and Balochistan.
Opposition leader Omar Ayub Khan in the National Assembly shared a letter on social media on June 2, 2025, saying that he had sent a letter to National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, “Nominated opposition members for the parliamentary committee).
PTI has nominated four members from NA and Senate for Parliamentary Body – MNA Asad Qaiser, MNA Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, MNA Sahib Zada Hameed Raza, MNA Sardar Latif Khosa, Senator Shobeli Faraz and Senator Alma Raja Nasir.
Ayub said the members were nominated in accordance with the fixed procedure and after proper consultation.
Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has officially announced the names of the committee a day after the NA opposition leader was invited to a meeting on consultation on the appointment of the CEC.
In a letter to the opposition leader, the Prime Minister pointed out that the CEC period and two other members of the ECP ended on January 26, but they continued their duties under Article 215 of the Constitution.
Premier wrote, under Article 218, suggestions for the CEC and members would have to be sent to the Parliamentary Committee.
It is appropriate to know that the five -year term of CEC Alexander Sultan Raja ended on January 26, 2025 with two other Election Commission members, Nasar Ahmed Durrani (Sindh) and Shah Muhammad Jatoi (Balochistan).
The procedure for appointment of members of the CEC and Election Commission is explained in Article 213 of the Constitution, in which the Prime Minister and the opposition leaders send three names to the President through consensus.
If there is no agreement on the names, the prime minister and the opposition leaders will send their names to their parliamentary committee, after which the National Assembly Speaker will form a 12 -member parliamentary committee, which will have equal representation from the treasury and opposition benches.
The committee will send a name to the president by these names for approval after a consensus.
According to Article 217, the CEC period will take over the responsibilities of the CEC at the expiry of the term, and in the case of its absence or space, the senior member will accept these responsibilities.
Two other members of the electoral institution have to spend more than two years, as Punjab Babar Hassan Bharawana will expire on May 29, 2027, while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Member Justice (Rated) Ikramullah Khan will end on May 31, 2027.
However, due to deep political polarization, there was no indication of deliberately contacting new names between the Prime Minister and the opposition leader in the National Assembly.
The PTI has already challenged the Islamabad High Court challenging the delay in the appointment of a new CEC earlier this year with Ayub and Senate opposition leader Shobeli Son on the matter.
The petition has been named as the Federal Government, the Chairman of the Senate, the National Assembly Speaker, and the ECP as respondents.
Applicants argued that the ECP members of Sindh and Balochistan have also expired along with the CEC’s term, and that the delay in the latest appointments is a violation of the constitution.
The petitioners requested that the court maintain that the prime minister, NA speaker and chairman of the Senate had failed to fulfill their constitutional responsibilities.
It states that the court should instruct the NA Speaker to form a parliamentary committee, give the names of NA members, and instruct the Chairman Senate to send the speaker to the NA to the Senators.
The petitioners also requested the court to issue a meaningful dialogue with the opposition leader under Article 213 of the Constitution, and the court should declare illegal establishment in the positions of CEC and commission members despite the expiry of their constitutional terms.
