Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja has called a meeting for January 22 (Sunday) to discuss potential candidates for Punjab’s caretaker chief minister. Local media reports claimed that the Punjab caretaker CM’s name will be revealed tomorrow by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
The development occurs after the six-member, a bipartisan parliamentary committee, established by Punjab Assembly Speaker Sibtain Khan, was unable to agree on candidates for interim chief executive.
After the Punjab Assembly was dissolved last week, the topic of the caretaker CM’s nomination encountered an unusual delay because of the ongoing back-and-forth between the state government and the opposition on the nominees.
The ECP has received the names of four nominees, two from the government and one each from the opposition.
The electoral body would assess the names in the meeting, which the CEC and other commission members would also attend,
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senior vice president Fawad Chaudhry stated that the ECP would choose one of the four candidates under Article 244A of the Pakistani Constitution within two days.
Fawad stated on his Twitter account that the ECP was unable to nominate a candidate for the position of provincial chief executive to its preferences.
The government and the opposition could not agree on a caretaker chief minister for Punjab during a meeting of the parliamentary committee on Friday. The committee was formed on Thursday and consists of three representatives from each party.
Speaking to reporters following the meeting, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Malik said, “This was an opportunity to settle matters politically, but that could not be done here.”
“There can never be agreement when there are so many polarized viewpoints.”
