Court moved against bureaucrats, technocrats as CEC.

PESHAWAR -- A lawyer on Monday challenged a provision of the Constitution (TwentySecond Amendment) Act, 2016, which allowed a retired bureaucrat or a technocrat to become the chief election commissioner (CEC), and requested the Peshawar High Court to strike it down for being in conflict with the Constitution.

Petitioner Ali Azim Afridi also prayed the court to declare the appointment of CEC Sikander Sultan Raja, who is a former civil servant, unconstitutional.

The respondents in the petition are the Federation of Pakistan through law secretary and CEC Sikander Sultan Raja.

The petitioner said his grievance revolved around Section 4of the Constitution (TwentySecond Amendment) Act, 2016, to the extent of allowing appointment of senior civil servant and technocrat as CEC by treating them on par with that of a judge of the Supreme Court and on that score enabling them to supervise the role of a judge of the high court while acting as member of Election Commission of Pakistan under Article 218(2) (b) of the Constitution.

The Constitution (TwentySecond Amendment) Act, 2016 was enacted in June 2016. Prior to that amendment Article 213 (2) of the Constitution provided that no person shall be appointed to be CEC unless he is, or has been, a judge of the Supreme Court or is, or has been, a judge of a high court and is qualified to be appointed a judge of Supreme Court.The petitioner said through Section 4 of the impugned constitutional amendment, Article 213(2) of the Constitution was amended and the amended provision now provides, `No person shall be appointed...

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