ISLAMABAD: The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) nominee for the office of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Babar Yaqub Fateh Mohammad, retires as secretary of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday.

He will be replaced by Zafar Iqbal Hussain, currently serving as the provincial election commissioner, Punjab. A notification to this effect was issued on Monday with the approval of the acting CEC, retired justice Altaf Ibra­him Qureshi. A BPS-21 officer Mr Hussain is expected to take charge on Jan 1.

Meanwhile, the matter pertaining to the appointment of CEC and members of the ECP has again been delayed for a week — this time because of fog. The parliamentary committee on appointment of CEC and ECP members was to meet on Monday, but the meeting had to be put off for a week as some members of the panel could not reach Islamabad due to foggy weather.

As the matter continues to be delayed, informed sources told Dawn, outgoing ECP secretary Fateh Mohammad, whose name is on top of the government’s list, in all probability is to be picked up as the new CEC as “ice appears to have been broken between the government and the opposition”.

The sources said that under the arrangement being given a final shape, the opposition will favour the government’s nominee for the CEC post and in return the government will support both the opposition’s nominees for the offices of ECP members from Sindh and Balochistan.

The parliamentary panel had previously met on Dec 24 but the deadlock could not be broken. It was decid­ed that the next meeting will take place on Dec 30.

According to Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari, who heads the parliamentary panel on appointment of CEC and ECP members, some members of the panel could not reach Islamabad due to foggy weather. Under the rules of the parliamentary panel, a decision on appointment of CEC and ECP members has to be taken with a two-third majority.

A move had earlier been made to amend the rules to do away with the requirement of a two-third majority to confirm the names of CEC and ECP members, but was dropped after realisation that amending the rules also required a two-third majority.

Published in Dawn, December 31st, 2019