ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary committee of the Punjab Assembly on Friday failed to finalize the appointment of a caretaker chief minister for the country’s most populous Punjab province, after which the matter is set to be referred to Pakistan’s election oversight body, local media reported. 
The six-member committee with equal representation from the treasury and the opposition had only one day, Friday, to deliberate upon the nominations made by the outgoing chief minister Pervaiz Elahi and opposition leader Hamza Shehbaz. 
As per Article 224-A of the constitution, the parliamentary panel had three days to select one of the four nominees, but due to a delay in the notification for the formation of the panel, the committee was left with only one day to mull over the names, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported. 
Former ministers Raja Basharat, Mian Aslam Iqbal, and Hashim Jawan Bakht represented the ruling alliance in Punjab, while the opposition was represented by Malik Ahmad Khan, Syed Hassan Murtaza, and Malik Nadeem Kamran. 
Elahi, the outgoing chief minister, had nominated Ahmad Nawaz Sukhera and Naveed Akram Cheema for caretaker CM’s post, while Shehbaz had endorsed the names of PM’s special assistant Ahad Cheema and media mogul Mohsin Naqvi. 
“Provided that in case of inability of the Committee to decide the matter in the aforesaid period, the names of the nominees shall be referred to the Election Commission of Pakistan for final decision within two days,” the constitution says. 
The developments come a week after the 17th provincial assembly of Punjab was dissolved on January 14. As per the law, the province has to elect a new legislature no later than April 14. 
Both the chief minister and the opposition leader were initially required to forward three names to the governor within three days of the dissolution of the provincial assembly, which fell on January 17. But the chief minister and the leader of the opposition failed to agree on any name, after which they forwarded names of two nominees each to the parliamentary committee as per the constitution. 
The matter will now be decided by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) after the parliamentary committee failed to finalize the name of the caretaker CM. 
After Friday’s inconclusive meeting, Basharat told reporters that the nominees suggested by the treasury were the “best options if measured by any yardstick,” Dawn reported. 
Malik Ahmad Khan, one of the opposition’s representatives, said that both nominations made by Elahi failed to meet the requirements laid down by the law. 
“Sukhera was a dual national and under Article 63(1)(c) of the Constitution as interpreted by the Supreme Court (PLD 2019 SC 201) was disqualified to become a public officeholder. Likewise, being a serving bureaucrat he also holds an office of profit in the Service of Pakistan and could not become the interim CM under Article 63(1)(d),” Khan was quoted as saying. 
“Naveed Akram Cheema has served as the chairman of the Federal Public Service Commission and Section 5 of the ordinance governing the working of the commission says that on ceasing to hold office, a member of the commission shall not be eligible for further employment in the service of Pakistan.”