Daily Times

After several months of back and forth about key appointments to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the government and opposition have decided to name Sikandar Sultan Raja as the new Chief Election Commissioner, confirmed Federal Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari on Tuesday.

Both the government and the opposition also agreed to Nisar Durrani as the ECP member from Sindh, while Shah Muhammad Jatoi will fill the vacant slot for Balochistan.

“It is good that Parliament itself decided the matter and no other institution was involved in the matter,” Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari said as she announced the decision. “The names will be sent to the prime minister today for finalisation.”

Little is known about the career bureaucrat, who is otherwise valued for his professional integrity, but also reportedly lobbied for the posting through personal contacts with the leadership of the PML-N and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).

Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari said it is a matter of great satisfaction that the parliament settled the matter with consensus. She said the names will now be forwarded to the Prime Minister.

The opposition was pushing for its nominees for the CEC post, Nasir Mahmood Khosa, Jalil Abbas Jilani, and Akhlaq Ahmad Tarar – none of whom could win government’s endorsement. The PPP had proposed the name of former attorney general Irfan Qadir.

The CEC post is vacant since December 6 and the appointments of the ECP members from Sindh and Balochistan have not been made for a year.

Earlier, the government and the opposition had withdrawn the names that were proposed before for the CEC appointment.