LAHORE: Leader of Opposition in the now dissolved National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has doubts about the parliamentary committee being able to evolve within three days consensus on the name of caretaker prime minister and believes that the matter will eventually be decided by the Election Commission of Pakistan.

“Today, I’ve formally sent four nominations (from the opposition) for the parliamentary committee to National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza,” he said at a press conference here on Tuesday.

All the four nominees belong to the PML-N.

When asked why the JUI-F and MQM were not given any representation in the committee, Chaudhry Nisar said constitutionally and proportionally speaking the PML-N had the right to claim all four nominations from the opposition side.

A PML-N leader told Dawn that the party feared that the JUI-F representative could miss the committee meeting, creating a chance for the PPP to get its nominee for the post of caretaker prime minister selected by 4-3 vote.

Chaudhry Nisar alleged that the government had tried to strike a deal till the eleventh hour by offering the post of Punjab caretaker chief minister to the PML-N and asked it to accept in return the PPP nominee for caretaker prime minister.

He said the PML-N was in favour of holding elections for national and provincial assemblies on same day. He said consultations on dissolution of the Punjab Assembly continued and a formal decision would be taken on Wednesday after the return of PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif from Dubai.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was discussing the matter with the PML-N chief on phone at the same time Chaudhry Nisar was holding the press conference and there were reports that the Punjab Assembly could be dissolved in the early hours of Wednesday.

The other three provincial assemblies have already been dissolved.

Chaudhry Nisar rejected a perception that the PML-N had reservations over the new nomination forms devised by the ECP. “Only those people who have committed any theft, tax evasion or corruption should fear.”

The situation prevailing in the country demanded such a form, he added.

He said the opposition stuck to its demand for replacement of all four ‘political’ governors and would move the ECP as well as courts if need arose.

He said he was hopeful that the caretakers would replace chief secretaries, inspectors general of police and other key bureaucrats in the provinces.

Answering a question, Chaudhry Nisar said he had withdrawn the name of Shakirullah Jan from the list of nominees for the post of caretaker prime minister after some documentary evidence against the retired judge had been provided to him. But he declined to comment on the nature of evidence.

He asked how JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman knew that there was a 90 per cent consensus on Justice Shakirullah’s name when he as the leader of opposition had not even talked to the prime minister on the issue.