Chief Justice Dogar may be appointed Pakistan's new CEC

Islamabad, Mar 17 (ANI): Pakistan's new Chief Election Commissioner could be appointed after a notification about the reinstatement of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry is issued.

Sources indicated the possibility of present CJ Abdul Hameed Dogar being made the CEC after his retirement on March 21.

The office of the Chief Election Commissioner has fallen vacant with retirement of Qazi Mohammad Farooq.

However, a senior PML-N leader said that recent developments might force the government to avoid appointing a "highly controversial" person as CEC.

"The CEC has to be an impartial person with an impeccable reputation. A controversial CEC must not be replaced by another controversial person," the Dawn quoted him, as saying.

Legal experts, however, say that Justice Dogar qualifies for the post. Under Article 213 of the Constitution, the president has the discretion to appoint the CEC.

The only qualification required for the post is to be a sitting or former judge of the apex court, or a high court judge qualified to be appointed as a Supreme Court judge.

Justice Dogar, if appointed, will be the second Chief Justice of Pakistan to become the CEC after retirement, the first being Justice Irshad Hassan Khan. (ANI)