Justice (retd) Sardar Muhammad Raza takes oath as acting chief election commissioner

• The ECP will remain dysfunctional from today till a new CEC is appointed.
• The parliamentary committee on appointment of CEC and ECP members will meet next week to consider the names.

Justice (retd) Altaf Ibrahim Qureshi took oath on Friday as the acting chief election commissioner (CEC) following the retirement of Justice (retd) Sardar Muhammad Raza.

Since Raza has retired, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) would remain dysfunctional due to its incomplete formation. The CEC and ECP members are appointed with consensus between government and the opposition in National Assembly.

The parliamentary committee on appointment of CEC and ECP members will meet next week to consider the names  proposed by the government and the opposition for the positions of CEC and ECP members.

Prime Minister Imran Khan had recommended three names on Thursday fro the posts. He recommended current ECP secretary Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad, Fazal Abbas Maken and Arif Khan for the CEC post. The Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif also recommended the names of former federal secretaries Nasir Mahmood Khosa, Jalil Abbas Jillani and Akhlaq Ahmad Tarar for the post.