ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The federal government and the opposition have 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 Chief Election Commissioner (CEC).
Talking to media representatives in Islamabad on Wednesday, the federal finance minister Ishaq Dar and the opposition leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah said that they contacted all the political parties to consult and finalize names for top slot of the CEC.
The finance minister said that three names have been finalized for top slot of the new CEC which will to be forwarded to the Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq later today.
The opposition leader said that as per the constitution, the leader of opposition is not bound to consult other parties but yet we contacted others.
Khursheed Shah said that one of the three names will be finalized by tomorrow evening with mutual consent.
Earlier, both the leaders met in Islamabad and held a discussion about the appointment of the CEC.
The sources said that during the meeting between the finance minister and the opposition leader, the later telephoned the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senior leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Dr Farooq Sattar, and discussed the appointment of the new Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) head.
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 Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the opposition leader if appointment of the CEC was not made by December 5.