Sikandar Sultan Raja named new CEC

The government and opposition on Tuesday named Sikandar Sultan Raja, a former top bureaucrat, as new chief election commissioner (CEC), ending the months long deadlock over the issue.

Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari, who heads the 12-member parliamentary committee, said that the government and opposition have decided to name Sikandar Sultan Raja as new CEC. She said that the parliamentary committee had also reached consensus on the remaining appointments to the ECP and had agreed on Nisar Durrani and Shah Mohammad Jatoi as members from Sindh and Balochistan, respectively.

Sikandar Sultan Raja, who served on various top positions i.e. federal secretary and chief secretary Azad Jammu and Kashmir, will serve as the CEC for the next five years. "Today's decision is much appreciated; parliamentarians have taken a decision which was their responsibility. Parliamentary matters should be decided by the Parliament," she added. "We all should work together in future as matters which are supposed to be done by the Parliament should be done here," she added.

The meeting of the parliamentary committee took place at the National Assembly Speaker's chamber under the chairmanship of National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaisar. Federal Law Minister Farogh Naseem also participated in the meeting.

Talking to journalists, PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah said that Sikandar Sultan Raja worked with PML-N government for an extended period of time in Punjab. "He is an honest, hardworking and decent man. I hope that under his leadership, the ECP will ensure free and fair election in future," he added.

Former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf of PPP showed optimism, saying all three new appointees are quite capable people and they would do justice with their jobs.

MNA Shahida Akhtar Ali of JUI-F said that all three new appointments are made through consensus, adding the appointment of CEC through consensus is a victory of both politicians and the Parliament.

The move comes a day after the Opposition Leader in National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif sent an amended list of the opposition's nominees to the government. The only amendment to the opposition's list of three nominees was the addition of former attorney general Irfan Qadir in place of former foreign secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani. The other two names were the same; Nasir Mehmood Khosa, brother of former chief justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa, and Akhlaq Ahmed Tarar, a former federal secretary. The opposition leader had suggested to the Prime Minister to proceed in accordance with the binding judgments of the Supreme Court mentioned in his previous letters regarding appointment of the ECP members.

On the other hand, PM Khan had proposed three names for the slot of CEC to Shahbaz. The nominees from the government were all retired bureaucrats, namely Jamil Ahmad, Fazal Abbas Maken and Sikandar Sultan Raja.

The parliamentary committee on appointment of ECP members met on Monday and the amended list of the opposition's nominees received from London was shared with its members. The committee was scheduled to meet again on Tuesday to finalize the decision on the CEC's appointment.

The post of CEC has been vacant since December 6, 2019 after the retirement of then CEC Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza. Two ECP members, Abdul Ghaffar Soomro of Sindh and Justice Shakil Baloch of Balochistan also retired after their terms expired.