ISLAMABAD: After Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and Leader of the Opposition in the now dissolved National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan failed to agree on a name for caretaker prime minister, NA Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza constituted on Tuesday an eight-member parliamentary committee to do the job.

“The speaker has constituted the committee in pursuance of clause (1) of Article 224A of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan,” said a notification issued by the assembly secretariat.

The treasury benches will be represented in the committee by PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, PPP leaders Syed Khursheed Ahmad Shah and Farooq H. Naek and Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour of the ANP.

Senator Pervez Rasheed, Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan, Khawaja Saad Rafiq and Sardar Mohammad Yaqoob Khan Nasar will represent the PML-N.

Chaudhry Nisar has restricted nominees to the PML-N and ignored the JUI-F and MQM. The JUI-F was excluded presumably because of a fear that it may vote for the other side and the MQM because Chaudhry Nisar does not consider it an opposition party.

Talking to Dawn, National Assembly secretary Karamat Hussain said the parliamentary committee would meet in the constitution room of the parliament house at 2.30pm on Wednesday.

Now the PPP and PML-N will put forward two names each and one name may be chosen by the committee through voting within three days.

If the two sides stick to their proposed names there would be a deadlock in the parliamentary committee as well.

In case of the deadlock, the names will automatically stand transferred to the Election Commission of Pakistan which will have to pick one in two days.

The PML-N has finalised Justice (retd) Nasir Aslam Zahid and Rasul Bakhsh Palijo as its nominees, while the PPP’s candidates are Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Dr Ishrat Husain, and Justice (retd) Mir Hazar Khan Khoso.

Under the constitution, both sides can change their nominees before the start of the committee’s formal proceedings.