The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Azam Khan Swati on Saturday termed the Chief Election Commissioner's (CEC) decision regarding refusal to administer oath to the members as unfortunate, saying his stance and its implications were being deliberated upon. In a video message here, he said it can't be said that the new members were appointed illegally as the appointments were made after due consultation with all the concerned institutions.
"It is quite unfortunate that the chief election commissioner didn't administer oath to the new members," he said, adding that the accusations he has levelled will be investigated. "The president appointed the new ECP members due to deadlock", he added. Swati said the appointments became an issue of deadlock when neither Prime Minister Imran Khan nor Leader of the Opposition Shahbaz Sharif reached any conclusion. Several meetings of the parliamentary committee were also held but all ended inconclusive, he added.
He said the government could not leave any constitutional body inactive under Article 215. He added that by-elections were to be held in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but the commission was not complete whereas government also consulted Speaker Office and Ministry of Law before appointing new members. Swati said that a summary of the deadlock was sent to the President Arfi Alvi with recommendations for new members and he then took a decision using the constitutional authority as a neutral umpire. Entire lawyer community also welcomed the decision of the president, he added.
On August 23, Chief Election Commissioner former Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan refused to take oath from the newly appointed ECP members. A statement issued by the CEC said the appointment of new members is a violation of the constitution. "The appointment of new members was not in accordance with Articles 213 and 214 of the constitution", it stated. The federal government appointed two members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) - Khalid Mehmood Siddiqui from Sindh and Munir Ahmed Kakar from Balochistan.