Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan

Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan
Incumbent Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan since 06 December 2014
Term length	3 Years
Formation	25 March 1956
First holder	FM Khan
Website	Election Commission 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.

Before 1973, appointment of the commissioner only restricted to the civil services and appointments came from the President.^[1] 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.^[1] The Constitution (or President on different occasions) lays the appointment and oath administered by the Chief Justice of Pakistan.^[2]

Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza is the current Chief Election Commissioner since 06 December 2014.^[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 3 years. 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^[4] Chief Election Commissioner have the fowling duties.

• . Preparing electoral rolls for elections to the National Assembly and Provincial Assemblies and revising such rolls annually.^[5]
• . To organise and conduct election to the Senate and fill casual vacancies in a House^[6][7] or a Provincial Assembly.^[8]
• . Appointment of Election Tribunals.^[9]
• . A commissioner also hears and decides cases of disqualification of members of Parliament and Provincial Assemblies.^[10] And receipt of reference from the chairman or the Speaker or Head of the political party, as the case may be.^[11]
• . To hold and conduct election to the office of the President as per Second Schedule to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan^[12]
• . To hold Referendum as and when ordered by the President.^[13]
• . 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^[14]

List of appointed and tenured chief election commissioners

Order	Chief election commissioner	Tenure	Appointment	Serving Branch	Notes on CEC
1	F. M. Khan	25 March 1956 – 28 October 1958	President	Civil services	Bureaucrat
2	Akhter Husain	1962–1964	President	Civil services	Bureaucrat
3	G. Moinuddin Khan	1964–1967	President	Civil services	Bureaucrat
	Justice Sheikh Abdur Rehman (Acting)	5 August 1967 – December 1967	President	Judicature	Jurist
4	N. A. Farooq	December 1967 – April 1969	President	Civil services	Bureaucrat
5	Justice Abdus Sattar	14 August 1969 – 16 January 1971	President	Judicature	Jurist
6	Justice Wahiuddin Ahmad	14 August 1973 – 2 October 1973	President	Judicature	Jurist
7	Justice Sajad Ahmad Jan	1973–5 July 1977	Constitution	Judicature	Jurist
8	Justice Sajad Ahmad Jan Dorab Patel	Not applicable	Constitution	Judicature	Jurist
9	Justice Maulvi Mushtaq Hussain	Not applicable	Constitution	Judicature	Jurist
10	Justice Karam Illahi Chohan	Not applicable	Constitution	Judicature	Jurist
11	Justice S. A. Nusrat	1 March 1982 – 15 April 1988	President	Judicature	Jurist
12	Justice Naeemuddin	16 April 1988 – 1989	Constitution	Judicature	Jurist
13	Justice Fakhre Alam	1993–1996	Constitution	Judicature	Jurist
	Justice Mukhtar Ahmed Junejo (Acting)	February 1997 – March 1997	Constitution	Judicature	Jurist
	Justice A.Q. Chaudry (Acting)	April 1997 – March 2004	Constitution	Judicature	Jurist
14	Justice Irshad Hasan Khan	March 2004–10 July 2004	Constitution	Judicature	Jurist
	Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar (Acting)	10 July 2004 – 3 August 2004	President	Judicature	Jurist
15	Justice Q. Muhammad Farooq	19 September 2007– 5 May 2009	President	Judicature	Jurist
16	Justice Hamid Mirza	17 March 2009 – 5 June 2012
	Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan (Acting)	5 June 2012 – 13 July 2012	President	Judicature	Jurist
17	Justice Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim	20 July 20, 2012–31 July 2013	President	Judicature	Jurist
	Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani (Acting)	17 August 2013 – 30 November 2013	Constitution	Judicature	Jurist
	Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk (Acting)	30 November 2013 – 02 July 2014	Constitution	Judicature	Jurist
	Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali (Acting)	03 July 2014 – 05 December 2014	[15] Constitution	Judicature	Jurist

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.

References

1. Shah, Shabir (18 July 2012). "Fakhruddin is 17th judge to head the Election Commission". News International Wednesday, 18 July 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
2. Khan, Iftikhar A. (17 August 2013). "Justice Tassaduq nominated as acting CEC". Dawn news, 2013. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
3. Edition, Web (06 December 2014 – Updated 120 PKT). "Justice Nasir takes oath as new CEC". Dawn News , 6 December 2014. Retrieved 29 December 2013. Check date values in: |date= (help)
4. Constitution of Pakistan
5. Constitution of Pakistan – Article 219-(i)
6. Senate of Pakistan
7. National Assembly of Pakistan
8. Constitution of Pakistan – Article 219-(ii)
9. Constitution of Pakistan – Article 219-(iii)
10. Constitution of Pakistan – Article 63-(ii)
11. Constitution of Pakistan – Article 63-(i)
12. Constitution of Pakistan – Article 41-(iii)
13. Constitution of Pakistan – Article 41-(vi)
14. Constitution of Pakistan – Article 221
15. "Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali takes oath as Acting C". dunyanews.tv. Dunya News T.V. Retrieved 3 July 2014.

External links

• Election Commission of Pakistan
• Constitution of Pakistan Articles 213–221
• Pakistan Observer
• The News
• Supreme Court of Pakistan
• The Dawn