ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Sunday selected media mogul Mohsin Naqvi, a nominee of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s party, as the caretaker chief minister of Punjab to hold elections in the country's most populous province, in a move swiftly rejected by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party that last ruled the province.
Naqvi's appointment comes more than a week after the 17th provincial assembly of Punjab was dissolved on January 14. The outgoing chief minister, Pervaiz Elahi, an ally of former prime minister Imran Khan, dissolved the assembly in a bid to mount pressure on PM Sharif's government to call nationwide snap elections. The move was followed by the dissolution of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial legislature that was ruled by Khan's PTI party.
Elahi had proposed the names of Sardar Ahmad Nawaz Sukhera and Naveed Akram Cheema, while Punjab opposition leader Hamza Shehbaz had forwarded the names of Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi and Ahad Cheema. The matter was referred to the ECP after a parliamentary committee constituted by the Punjab Assembly speaker failed to develop a consensus on a candidate for the slot.
As per the constitution, the names of all the four nominees had been referred to the election oversight body, which was required to pick one of the nominees before 10pm on Sunday night.
“The Election Commission of Pakistan has unanimously decided to appoint Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi as caretaker chief minister Punjab with immediate effect,” the ECP said in a statement, after an hours-long meeting of the body to discuss profiles of all the four nominees.
Naqvi, who is the owner of the City News Network media house, is believed to be a close friend of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.
Elahi had already announced if the election commission appointed a "controversial person" on the post, he would challenge the move in a court.
Senior PTI figure Chaudhry Fawad Hussain rejected the ECP’s pick, saying the electoral body “never failed to disappoint” them.
“We reject the decision to appoint a controversial person such as Mohsin Naqvi as the chief minister,” he said. “There is no other option but to protest this system in the streets.”
Hussain called on party workers to prepare for a campaign that would be led by Khan.
Another senior PTI member Shafqat Mahmood termed Naqvi’s appointment a "mockery" and said he was "the one man considered most unsuitable for the position."
“This amounts to virtually handing over power to the PML-N and the PPP to conduct elections in Punjab,” he said. "So much for free and fair elections."
Khan's PTI party had the provincial assemblies dissolved in a bid to force snap elections across the country, which PM Sharif's government says cannot be held before October 2023 as per schedule.
Khan, who was ousted in a parliamentary no-trust vote in April 2022, blames his fall on a United States-backed "foreign conspiracy." Washington and Khan's opponents deny this.
