Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan

The Chief Election Commissioner is the authority and the appointed chair of the Election Commission of Pakistan— an institution constitutionally empowered to conduct free and fair elections to the national and provincial legislatures.

Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan
Emblem of the Election Commission of Pakistan
Incumbent Sikandar Sultan Raja^[1] since 21 January 2020
Election Commission of Pakistan
Seat	Constitution Avenue, Islamabad
Nominator	Prime Minister and Leader of Opposition
Appointer	President of Pakistan
Term length	5 Years
Formation	25 March 1956
First holder	FM Khan
Website	Election Commission of Pakistan

Before 1973, appointment of the commissioner only restricted to the civil services and appointments came from the President.^[2] After the promulgation of much and thoroughly reformed constitution in 1973, the constitutional provisions made mandatory and compulsory that the only appointments would come from the judicature branch's judges who were eligible to become Chief Election Commissioner, however later on an amendment to the Constitution allowed civil servants to be appointed to the post as well.^[2] The Constitution (or President on different occasions) lays the appointment and oath administered by the Chief Justice of Pakistan.^[3]

Appointment of a Chief Election Commissioner

The President of Pakistan appoint the Chief Election Commissioner and four members of Election Commission of Pakistan. The Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly recommends three names for appointment of CEC and for each Member to a parliamentary committee for hearing and confirmation of any one person against each post. The parliamentary committee consisting of 12 members is constituted by the Speaker of National Assembly comprising 50% members from treasury benches and 50% from opposition parties out of which one-third shall be from Senate, the Chief Election Commissioner have tenure of 5 years.^[4] The Chief Election Commissioner enjoy the same official status as available to Judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan The Chief Election Commissioner can be removed by the President of Pakistan or Supreme Court of Pakistan or through an impeachment in National Assembly of Pakistan.

Duties and functions

Under the Constitution of Pakistan^[5] Chief Election Commissioner has the following duties.

• Preparing electoral rolls for elections to the National Assembly and Provincial Assemblies and revising such rolls annually.^[6]
• To organise and conduct election to the Senate and fill casual vacancies in a House^[7][8] or a Provincial Assembly.^[9]
• Appointment of Election Tribunals.^[10]
• A commissioner also hears and decides cases of disqualification of members of Parliament and Provincial Assemblies.^[11] And receipt of reference from the chairman or the Speaker or Head of the political party, as the case may be.^[12]
• To hold and conduct election to the office of the President as per Second Schedule to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan^[13]
• To hold Referendum as and when ordered by the President.^[14]
• To make rules providing for the appointment of officers and servants to be employed in connection with the functions of the Chief Election Commissioner or an Election Commission and for their terms and conditions of employment. Under this power the Honorable Chief Election Commissioner framed the Election Commission (Officers & Servants) Rules, 1989^[15]

Note: A very small number of chief election commissioners have enjoyed their stipulated three-year term in office. The majority has either served for a shorter term or for extended tenures which were as long as seven years.

List of former Chief Election Commissioners of Pakistan

Following is the list of former Chief Election Commissioners of Pakistan^[16][17]

No	Chief Election Commissioner	Tenure
1	F.M. Khan	25 March 1956 To 28 october 1958
2	Akhter husain	1962 to 1964
3	G Moinuddin Khan	1964 to 1967
4	N. A. Farooq	December 1967 to April 1969
5	Justice Abdus Sattar	14 August 1969 to 16 Jan 1971
6	Justice Wahiuddin ahmad	14 August 1973 to 2 October 1973
7	Juctice Sajad Ahmad Jan	1973 To 5 July 1977
8	Justice Sajad Ahmad Jab Dorab Patel	NA
9	Justice Maulvi Mushtaq hussain	NA
10	Justice Karam Illahi Chohan	NA
11	Justice S.A. Nusrat	1 March 1982 To 15 April 1988
12	Justice Naeemuddin	16 April 1988 To 1989
13	Justice Fakhre Alam	1993 To 1996
	Justice Mukhtar Ahmed Junejo	Feb 1997 To March 1997
	Justice A.Q. Chaudry	Feb 1997 To March 2004
14	Justice Irshad hasan Khan	March 2004 To 10 July 2004
15	Justice Q Muhammad Farooq	September 2007 to May 2009
16	Justice hamid Mirza	17 March 2009 to 5 June 1012
17	Justice Fakhruddin G Ebrahim	20 July 2012, 31 July 2013
18	Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan	6 December 2014 To 2020

References

1. "Sikandar Sultan Raja named new CEC". The Express Tribune (newspaper). January 2020.
2. Shah, Shabir (18 July 2012). . News International Wednesday, 18 July 2012. Archived from the original on 30 December 2013. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
3. Khan, Iftikhar A. (17 August 2013). "Justice Tassaduq nominated as acting CEC". Dawn news, 2013. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
4. Constitution of Pakistan
5. Constitution of Pakistan 25 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine
6. Constitution of Pakistan – Article 219-(i)
7. Senate of Pakistan
8. National Assembly of Pakistan
9. Constitution of Pakistan – Article 219-(ii)
10. Constitution of Pakistan – Article 219-(iii)
11. Constitution of Pakistan – Article 63-(ii)
12. Constitution of Pakistan – Article 63-(i)
13. Constitution of Pakistan – Article 41-(iii)
14. Constitution of Pakistan – Article 41-(vi)
15. Constitution of Pakistan – Article 221
16. "List Of Chief Election Commissioner Of Pakistan". 20 July 2018. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
17. "List of Former chief election commission Pakistan CEC ECP". www.pakinformation.com. Retrieved 27 May 2022.

External links

• APPOINTMENT OF CHIEF ELECTION COMMISSIONER AND ELECTION COMMISSION
• [1]
• Constitution of Pakistan Articles 213–221
• Supreme Court of Pakistan