Daily Times

The government has finalized its names for the election commission’s members from Sindh an Balochistan, reported a private channel on Monday. The election body has been incomplete since retirement of its two members on January 26 while the government has been waiting for the names to be proposed by the opposition.

The issue of the nomination of the members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was dragged due to indecisiveness of the government and opposition over the matter. The government has sent its three nominees for each member of the commission from Sindh and Balochistan to the Leader of the Opposition, sources said. The suggested names are: Dr. Salahuddin, Mehmood Raza and Raja Amir Abbas (for Balochistan), Nadeem Qureshi, Abdul Rasool Memon and Justice (retd) Noor ul Haq Qureshi (for Sindh), sources state.

Earlier, the ECP had written a letter to federal government to allocate new representatives till March 13. The government told that appointments should be made from Sindh and Balochistan within 45 days of the retirement of the previous members.

Under the Constitution, the ECP comprises a chief election commissioner and four members, one from each province. The vacant seat of a member of the election commission is to be filled within a period of 45 days. The appointment of ECP members under the constitution has to be proposed by the prime minister and the opposition leader in the National Assembly jointly after consultation.