Appointment of two ECP members: Sanjrani, Qaiser discuss three options to break deadlock

Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani and Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser on Monday decided to resolve the issue of appointment of the two members of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) with active involvement of the Parliament in the backdrop of lingering deadlock between the government and the ECP over the matter.

In this context, both Sanjrani and Qaiser held an important meeting in which three options were discussed to resolve the issue; to summon the respective sessions of the Senate and National Assembly to discuss the appointment of the two ECP members, to summon a joint session of the Parliament to deliberate on the matter; and to form a designated committee headed by either the chairman Senate or the speaker NA to propose the names of the two ECP members, Business Recorder has learnt.

A senator from the ruling party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) told Business Recorder that in the presence of a parliamentary committee, which includes the lawmakers from both the treasury and opposition benches, the formation of a fresh committee is not required. "However, if the chairman Senate and speaker NA decide to form a new committee to resolve the matter under their supervision, a new panel can be formed," the source said. Both Sanjrani and Qaiser are scheduled to meet Law Minister Farogh Naseem today (Tuesday), it is learnt.

On October 14, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had directed that the issue of the two ECP members' appointment be sent to the Parliament. During the proceedings of a related case, the court had observed the chairman Senate and the speaker NA should play their role in resolving the deadlock between the government and the ECP over the two members' appointment.

Since August this year, the ECP and the federal government have been locked in a tiff after Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) former Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza refused to administer oath to two ECP members Khalid Mahmood Siddiqui from Sindh and Munir Ahmad Kakar from Balochistan, citing the violation of Constitution in the appointment of these two members by President Arif Alvi on August 22, 2019.

In the backdrop of this rift, uncertainty shrouds the fate of the ECP with CEC retiring in the first week of the coming December and consensus is unlikely to be reached in near future between Prime Minister Imran Khan and Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif over the appointment of new CEC.

Moreover, one Barrister Jahangir Khan Jadoon moved the IHC against the appointment of two ECP members. The CEC in his written reply to IHC stated that they had been appointed by the president without following the procedure laid down in clauses 2A and 2B of Article 213 of the Constitution.

In this context, it is quite unlikely that Prime Minister Imran Khan and the Leader of the Opposition in NA Shahbaz Sharif reach any consensus over appointment of not only the two ECP members but also the CEC after the retirement of the incumbent CEC in the first week of December.

The process for the appointment of the CEC starts weeks before the retirement of the outgoing CEC but there has been no contact between PM Khan and Opposition Leader Sharif over the appointment of new CEC after Raza's upcoming retirement, the insider said. The Article 213 reads, "(2 A) The prime minister shall in consultation with the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, forward three names for appointment of the commissioner to a parliamentary committee for hearing and confirmation of any one person.

"(2B) The Parliamentary Committee to be constituted by the Speaker shall comprise fifty percent members from the treasury benches and fifty percent from the opposition parties, based on their strength in Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament), to be nominated by the respective parliamentary leaders: "Provided that in case there is no consensus between the prime minister and the leader of the opposition, each shall forward separate lists to the parliamentary committee for consideration which may confirm any one name."

In the light of relevant constitutional provisions, the criteria for the appointment of the CEC and the four ECP members (one member is appointed from each province) are the same and the CEC and ECP members are appointed for five years with half of the members (two out of four) tend to retire after 2.5 years.

In January this year, two ECP members Abdul Ghaffar Soomro from Sindh and Shakeel Baloch from Balochistan had retired following the completion of their five-year respective terms. In accordance with relevant constitutional provisions, the new ECP members were required to be appointed within 45 days.

However, consensus failed to be reached between the PM and leader of the opposition in NA over the appointment of the two ECP members following which the matter landed in the related parliamentary committee. Despite considering several names, the parliamentary committee too failed to reach consensus on appointment of the two ECP members. After almost eight months, the President approved the appointments of Siddiqui and Kakar as ECP members from Sindh and Balochistan respectively in August.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019