ISLAMABAD: Justice (retd) Altaf Qureshi on Friday took the oath as the acting chief election commissioner (CEC) of Pakistan after Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza retired from the post on Dec 5.

As per the Constitution’s Article 217, the most aged member of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) becomes acting CEC if the seat of the CEC is vacant or CEC is absent from the office.

Also Read: Govt to announce name for ECP chief within few days: Fawad

On Dec 5, Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry had said that the government would announce the name for the Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan in few days after reaching a consensus with the other political parties.

“Parliament still had 45 days to fill the vacant post of the election commissioner of Pakistan, however the names of the members were decided,” he had said while talking to a local news channel.

Separately while talking to a TV channel, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Youth Affairs Usman Dar had said that there was no deadlock with the opposition parties but the government was ready to settle all ongoing political matters with the opposition in peaceful negotiation process for the great interests of the country.

He had said PTI government trying its best to normalize the political situation in the country and the opposition formally began talks with government on the matters of the ECP and other state issues and hopefully in coming days everything will be settled through table talks.

“Within few days we will disclose the name for the ECP members and we will also suggest the names for ECP members from Sindh and Baluchistan as well.”