ISLAMABAD: Almost a week after Omar Hamid Khan stepped down as Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)’s secretary, the electoral body Tuesday appointed Syed Asif Hussain to the key post ahead of the February 8 general elections.
The development comes after Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja accepted resignation of Khan — who served as the electoral body’s secretary from July 2021 to January 2024 —while waiving the one-month notice period for the bureaucrat.
Earlier this month, Omar Hamid Khan — a retired grade 22 officer of the Secretariat Group who had served as the special secretary of finance, secretary Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) and national food security — had stepped down from the key post owing to health reasons, with the ECP secretariat confirming that the senior bureaucrat was on medical rest due to health issues.
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Earlier in a statement, the top electoral body had acknowledged that Khan had been ill for a few days and that he would perform his duties if his health allowed him so.
Furthermore, the ECP has also notified multiple transfers and postings of officers in the “public interest”.
ECP, Syed Asif Hussain, Secretary, Pakistan, Elections, PollsSaeed Gul, who was serving as Punjab’s Provincial Election Commissioner, has been appointed as Director General Elections Cell & Head of Elections Wing at the Islamabad secretariat.
Meanwhile, Muhammad Farid Afridi, who was serving as Additional DG Elections-I, has replaced Aijaz Anwer Chohan as the new Provincial Election Commissioner for Balochistan — with Chohan being appointed as Punjab’s Election Commissioner.
