Justice (rtd) Altaf Ibrahim Qureshi takes charge as acting CEC

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – Justice (retd) Altaf Ibrahim Qureshi on Friday took oath as the acting chief election commissioner (CEC) of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). Kyber Pakhtunkhwa member Justice )rtd) Irshad Qaiser administered the oath of the acting CEC. Justice Qureshi, who is senior election commission member from Punjab, takes over from Justice (r) Sardar Mohammad Raza whose tenure ended on December 5. It is pertinent to mention here that the government and position parties have not yet decided on the names of CEC and other two members of ECP from Balochistan and Sindh. The ECP has now technically been rendered dysfunctional as it has only two members out of five and under the law there should be at least three members in the bench to hear the cases. Earlier, Prime Minister Imran Khan has recommended three names for the appointment of the chief election commissioner (CEC) as the tenure of Sardar Raza will end today. According to details, the names of ECP Secretary Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad, Fazal Abbas Maken and Arif Khan were suggested by the prime minister. Earlier, Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif had recommended the names of Nasir Mahmood Khosa, Jalil Abbas Jilani and Akhlaq Ahmad Tarar for the appointment of the CEC. The PM Office had raised the objections on the names recommended by the Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif for the appointment of CEC. Jaleel Abbas Jilani worked as principal secretary of former premier Nawaz Sharif and worked as the Chief Secretary Punjab under CM Shehbaz Sharif. Nasir Mehmood Khosa is also considered close to the Sharif family and Akhlaq Tarar also worked as the federal secretary.