ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Information Secretary Waqas Akram demanded from the government on Sunday to immediately constitute a parliamentary panel to fill the key constitutional positions of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and two members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The five-year term of CEC Sikandar Sultan Raja and ECP Member (Sindh) Nisar Ahmad Durrani and ECP Member (Balochistan) Shah Muhammad Jatoi was completed on January 26.

However, they will continue till the vacant posts are filled as per the 26th Constitutional Amendment.

The matter of three new appointments in the ECP had also figured in a recent meeting between Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and PTI leadership in Islamabad.

In his recent media talk, Law and Justice Minister Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar had said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif would soon write to the Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly (NA) Omar Ayub in this connection, adding the process would be transparent and in accordance with the Constitution.

Over two weeks back, Ayub and Leader of Opposition in Senate Shibli Faraz had written to NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq and Senate Chairman Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani with regard to making key appointments in the ECP.

In a statement issued here, PTI information secretary contended that the new CEC and the ECP members for Sindh and Balochistan should be appointed through a transparent and consultative process mandated by the Constitution, “instead of hiding behind a contentious constitutional tweak as a pretext to delay the much-needed appointments”.

Waqas Akram warned the government against further undermining the ECP, alleging the government was hell-bent on damaging all the state institutions to safeguard its own vested interests.

He called for the appointment of a credible, impeccable and impartial individual as the CEC forthwith so as “to restore the rapidly declining prestige of this vital constitutional body”.

Akram alleged that Sikandar Sultan Raja, whose term as CEC ended on January 26, 2025, was the most contentious figure in Pakistan’s electoral history, as the “massively rigged February 8 polls” would remain “a permanent stain and stigma on his face, forever tarnishing his legacy”.