Rabbani slams govt for not appointing ECP members

ISLAMABAD: Former chairman Senate Senator Mian Raza Rabbani came hard on the government Wednesday for not appointing members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from Sindh and Balochistan within mandatory 45 days. “We had written to the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs regarding the exhausting of the term of two Election Commission members well on time and now it is the government’s job to do the needful,” said a senior ECP official while talking to The News on the matter.The government has not only missed the constitutional deadline of 45 days for the appointment of two Election Commission members and the mandatory process for consultation between the prime minister and the opposition leader in this regard is in not sight, given the prevailing political scene.In his reaction, Rabbani charged, “The government is making a mockery of the Constitution, in particular, on the question of the nominations of members from Sindh and Balochistan to the Election Commission of Pakistan.”He pointed out that in the first instance, the stipulated time, under Clause (4) of Article 215, Constitution, 1973, of 45 days for filling the vacancies in the Election Commission had long lapsed and the government was in violation of the Constitution as the vacancies continue to exist.“The Constitution, 1973, provides, under paragraph (b) of Article 218 that the members are to be appointed in the manner prescribed in clauses (2A) and (2B) of Article 213, Constitution, 1973. Clause 2(A) of Article 213, Constitution, 1973, provides that the prime minister shall in consultation with the leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, forward three names for such appointment. In the instant case, no consultation has taken place between the prime minister and the leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly,” he notes.

from The News International - National https://ift.tt/2Yxa9YG