Justice Sardar Raza nominated new CEC

ISLAMABAD: The parliamentary committee has finalized the name of Justice Sardar Raza Khan as the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) on Thursday, just a day before the December 5 deadline set by the Supreme Court ends.

The nominated CEC is currently serving as the Chief Justice of Federal Shariat Court. He retired as the judge of the Supreme Court in 2011. The respected judge had refused to take oath under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) after military dictator Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency in Nov 2007.

After the meeting, Senator Rajwana told media that Senator Islamuddin Sheikh proposed the name of Justice Raza and other members endorsed it. “This was a unanimous decision,” he added.

The government and opposition had finalized three names for the post of CEC on Wednesday and sent them to the parliamentary committee to finalise one name out of the three nominees.

Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in a meeting at the Parliament House had finalised three names — Justice Tariq Pervez (retd), Justice Sardar Raza Khan and Justice Tanveer Ahmed (retd) — and sent them to the parliamentary committee to select the CEC as per Article 213 (2A & 2B) of the Constitution.

The 12-member parliamentary committee on the appointment of the CEC is headed by the PML-N Senator Rafique Rajwana, while the other members include Capt Muhammad Safdar (retd), Muhammad Junaid Anwaar Chaudhry, Dr Darshan, Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan Nasir and Muhammad Arshad Khan Leghari from the PML-N, Muhammad Ayaz Soomro, Shazia Marri and Senator Islamuddin Sheikh from the PPP, Shehryar Afridi of the PTI, Doctor Muhammad Farooq Sattar of the MQM and Haji Muhammad Adeel of the ANP.