Supreme Court Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, who has been holding the additional charge of Acting Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), may be appointed as CEC for a constitutionally mandated five-year term after his retirement in August 2012.
Informed sources told Business Recorder that the government and the opposition were agreed on Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan's appointment as the next CEC upon his retirement. Sources said the main opposition party had categorically conveyed to PPP-led coalition government that only those individuals who were part of the judiciary led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudry were acceptable to them. "The names of Justice (Retd) Sardar Raza, Justice (Retd) Khalilur Rehman Ramday and Justice Javed Iqbal were also under consideration for sometime by the PML-(N)," sources further said.
A month after the term of the last permanent chief election commissioner, Hamid Ali Mirza, expired, the nomination process for a new CEC has yet to get under way because of disagreements between the PPP and PML-N over the three names cited above.
Sources said that Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Gilani has not yet made any formal contact with the Leader of the Opposition Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan to kick off the consultation process towards the nomination of the next CEC. PML-N will be compelled to remind the PM by August if there is no contact by him, according to sources.
Following the adoption of 18th Amendment, the procedure to select a new CEC requires consultation between the Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly. The prime minister is required to forward to a 12-member parliamentary committee three names for consideration as the next CEC. If the prime minister and leader of the opposition fail to evolve consensus on three names, they are entitled to submit three names each to the parliamentary committee which will then choose one from amongst six nominees.