Justice (r) Altaf Ibrahim Qureshi on Friday took oath as acting chief election commissioner (CEC).
Justice Qureshi, who is a senior member of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from Punjab, took over from Justice (r) Sardar Mohammad Raza, whose tenure ended on December 5. Member from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Justice (r) Irshad Qaiser administered the oath to the acting CEC.
The ECP has been rendered dysfunctional as it currently has only two members out of five, whereas under the law, there should be at least three members on the bench to hear cases.
In the absence of CEC and two ECP members from Sindh and Balochistan, the commission will not be able to make any decisions. However, the scrutiny committee investigating funding cases against political parties will remain functional.
A final name for the CEC slot will be decided during a parliamentary committee meeting scheduled to take place on December 9.
A day earlier, Prime Minister Imran Khan had recommended the names of Fazal Abbas, Babar Yaqoob and Arif Khan for the post of the CEC. The approval from the prime minister had come on the last day of Justice (r) Raza’s tenure and after a petition filed by the opposition for the Supreme Court to intervene in the matter.
Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif had instead proposed the names of Nasir Mehmood Khosa, Jalil Abbas Jillani and Ikhlaq Ahmed Tarar for the post of CEC.
Shehbaz has also proposed the names of Nisar Durrani, Justice (r) Abdul Rasul Memon and Aurangzeb Haq as Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) member from Sindh. From Balochistan, he has recommended the names of lawyer Shah Mohammad Jatoi, former advocate general Rauf Atta and Raheela Durrani.
The government has proposed the names of Justice (r) Sadiq Bhatti, Justice (r) Noorul Haq Qureshi and Abdul Jabbar Qureshi for the post of the ECP member from Sindh. For Balochistan, the prime minister approved the names of Dr Faiz Kakar, Naveed Jan Baloch and Amanullah Baloch.