The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday granted 15 more days to the federal government for the appointment of members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
During the hearing, the court was told that several members of the parliamentary committee were unable to attend the meeting on Monday due to dense fog. The IHC chief justice said the court can only expect that the opposition leaders and the prime minister jointly select names for the posts. Only parliamentary committee can change the rules, he asserted.
Subsequently, the hearing was adjourned till January 15.
The ECP disposed of over 100 pending cases during the year 2019. It also held elections for the 16 provincial seats in the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and published a report on the 2018 general elections as well as all the details of its next five-year plan until 2023. In addition, it sent its annual performance report to parliament for the first time. However, the appointments of two members, those from Sindh and Balochistan, could not be made in 2019, a year in which the chief election commissioner (CEC) and the Election Commission secretary also retired.
The ECP has a five-member panel consisting of a member from each of the four provinces plus the chief election commissioner. For eleven months now, however, it has been without its Sindh and Balochistan members. After the chief election commissioner’s retirement, therefore, it has become dysfunctional with only two members currently on the panel. agencies
