The Election Commission of Pakistan will finalize caretaker chief ministers for Punjab and Balochistan as the parliamentary committees in both the provinces have failed to reach consensus on selecting the interim chief minister for their respective provinces. The speaker Punjab Assembly has forwarded four names for the caretaker chief minister to the Election Commission and Chief Election Commissioner Former Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza has convened a meeting of ECP today (Thursday) to pick a name for the interim chief minister.
Under the Constitution, the Election Commission is bound to announce its decision on the caretaker chief ministers within two days after receiving names from the speakers of respective provinces. Outgoing Opposition Leader in Punjab Assembly Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed blamed the PML-N's "inflexibility" for lack of consensus while outgoing provincial government's spokesperson Malik Ahmed Khan claimed the names submitted by the opposition were controversial and had a bias against the PML-N.
The Election Commission has received four names for the caretaker chief minister of Punjab. They include Professor Hasan Askari Rizvi and Ayaz Amir from the opposition side and Admiral Mohammad Zakaullah (retd) and Former Justice Mohammad Sair Ali. The ECP will choose one man from among them to become the caretaker chief minister of Punjab.
Meanwhile, in Balochistan the outgoing government has proposed names of Shaukat Aziz Popalzai, president of the Balochistan Economic Forum, and Aladdin Marri while the opposition has proposed Ashraf Jehangir Qazi and former speaker Aslam Bhootani; names for the caretaker chief minister. The speaker Balochistan Assembly will now send the same names to the Election Commission to pick one of them as caretaker chief minister for the province to supervise general election scheduled to be held on July 25.
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