ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Justice (retd) Sardar Muhammad Raza has been appointed as the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) after President Mamnoon Hussain signed a summary.
The oath taking ceremony of Justice (retd) Sardar Raza Khan will take place on Friday evening.
Earlier, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif signed the summary, seeking to appoint Justice (retd) Sardar Raza as the new CEC, and sent to the president for approval.
The Parliamentary Committee on the appointment of the CEC in its meeting held in Islamabad on Thursday morning agreed to appoint Justice (retd) Sardar Muhammad Raza from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as new head of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) member Shehryar Khan Afridi did not attend the parliamentary committee meeting.
Later talking to media, the committee Chairman Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Rafiq Rajwana said that the decision was taken unanimously by the members of the parliamentary committee.
Rajwana expressed the hope that new CEC will hold free, fair and transparent election when the time comes so that no one casts any doubts about the fairness electoral process.
The federal government and the opposition on Wednesday finalized three names including Justice (retd) Sardar Muhammad Raza, Justice (retd) Tariq Pervez and Justice (retd) Tanveer Ahmad Khan for the post of the new CEC.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court while hearing the case pertaining to the appointment of the chief election commissioner said that it would take action against the prime minister and the opposition leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah if appointment of the CEC was not made by December 5.
