ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The retired bureaucrat Raja Sultan Sikandar is likely to be the next Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) after the representatives of the government and the opposition reached consensus on his name for the post.
The consensus was reached when the Parliamentary Committee met in Islamabad on Monday to finalize names for the appointment of the CEC and members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
Raja Sultan Sikandar will replace Sardar Raza Khan who retired as the CEC after completing his term on December 6, 2019.
Sources said that both the government and the opposition have also agreed on names of Shah Mehmood Jatoi and Nisar Durrani as the ECP Members from Balochistan and Sindh respectively.
It’s worth noting that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led federal government had proposed the name of Raja Sultan Sikandar for the post of CEC. Though some government leaders raised reservations over his close ties with Sharif family.
Sources said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) had also endorsed the name of the former bureaucrat as the Chief Election Commissioner while Raja Pervez Ashraf of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had proposed the name of the former Attorney General Irfan Qadir but his name didn’t get the Parliamentary Committee’s nod.
Raja Sultan Sikandar recently retired as a 22-grade officer. He held the post of the Chief Secretary Azad Kashmir, and also remained as the Secretary in various Federal Ministries. He also remained as the Director of Capital Development Authority.
