ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Monday gave one more week to the federal government and the opposition to appoint the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), adding that no further time will be given after December 1.
A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk was hearing the election commissioner’s appointment case in Islamabad on Monday.
During the course of hearing, the court said that it will issue notice of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the opposition leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah if they fail to appoint the CEC by December 1.
Earlier, the Attorney General Salman Aslam Butt appeared before the Supreme Court on behalf of the federal government and requested the apex court for more time to finalize the name of new CEC.
The Attorney General told the court that the prime minister and the opposition leader had agreed on a name for the post but a political party expressed reservations on it. Lather, that personality refused to become the chief election commissioner, he added.
The apex court earlier twice gave deadlines to the government and the opposition to reach consensus for the new head of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). However, both sides could not agree on any name for the post.
The sources earlier said that the federal government would seek at least two weeks because the prime minister is scheduled to leave for Kathmandu on Monday to attend the SAARC summit and Khursheed Shah, who is in London on a private visit, would be returning to the country on Wednesday.
On Thursday, the federal information minister Pervez Rasheed said that the names of the possible candidates for the post were being kept secret deliberately to offset the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s move to derail the appointment process.
