|
|
|
Pakistan Chief Election Commissioner Fakhruddin G Ebrahim resigned from his post yesterday, a week after the Supreme Court ordered the commission to hold presidential polls ahead of its original schedule. |
Ebrahim’s resignation comes after the Election Commission and the Supreme Court came under fire from lawmakers during a session of the National Assembly and the Senate, with some members demanding that the chief election commissioner resign from his post, according to the Dawn news.
Presidential elections were originally scheduled by the Election Commission to be held on August 6, and the commission had earlier rejected a government request to change the date of the poll.
However, two days later the Supreme Court ordered the commission to hold elections on July 30 as sought by the federal government in a petition filed in the court.
Ebrahim was appointed in July 2012 after then ruling Pakistan People’s Party and opposition PML-N agreed on his name, as part of constitutional obligation that government and opposition should jointly nominate the election chief.