CEC vows to work in impartial manner

Raja says it’s up to govt to decide when next general elections will be held


Our Correspondent June 01, 2022

ISLAMABAD:

ISLAMABAD

OUR CORRESPONDENT

Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja on Wednesday said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) would continue to work in an impartial manner and not compromise on its rulings even if they ruffled some feathers.

He also clarified that it was up to the government to decide when the general elections would be held in the country.

“The ECP is always ready for elections and it will continue to make decisions without fear,” he told reporters in an informal chat in Islamabad.

"The election commission makes its decisions fearlessly and it will continue to do so. If anyone is displeased by or disagrees with the decisions, it's their problem," he added after the administration of oath to two new members of the ECP.

The PTI has accused the CEC and the election commission of bias, with former premier Imran Khan repeatedly calling on him to resign. Last month, the party had announced its plans to file a reference against the CEC.

Taking notice of allegations levelled against it by Imran, the ECP had asked the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) for the record of his address during a workers’ convention in Peshawar on April 26.

The PTI chairman had demanded the resignation of the CEC for allegedly siding with the PML-N against his party.

The former premier had claimed that the CEC had “lost all his credibility” and when the country’s “largest political party” had lost confidence in him, he should step down.

On May 3 during an interview with a private TV channel, the PTI chairman had again accused the CEC of being biased, saying that the Supreme Court should take action against ‘horse-trading’.

Responding to the allegations of being biased, the CEC said: "Everyone is our friend".

When Raja was asked about the general elections, he replied the ECP was "always ready for the elections" and it was the government that had to decide about the new polls.

"The ECP's job is to hold transparent and fair elections," he said. “Work on the delimitation of constituencies is being carried out swiftly.”

The CEC said the final delimitation was not possible before the official issuance of census results.

"The ECP has a clear stance on the census," he added, saying that the results of the 2017 census were released in May 2021 and the demarcation of boundaries for constituencies was started after that.

Raja recalled that a constitutional amendment was introduced on delimitation and elections in 2018.

"The government now wants a digital census and delimitation can be completed on time if its results are released by December 2022. If the results are delayed, the election will be held on the basis of the 2017 census."

Replying to a query about why the ECP had not made any progress on the resignations of PTI MNAs, the CEC said former deputy speaker Qasim Suri had not referred the case to the commission.

To a question about the foreign funding case, Raja replied that the proceedings were under way.

"It is necessary to give an opportunity to all parties for clarification.”

Earlier, the CEC administered oath to the two new members of the ECP – Babar Hassan Bharwana from Punjab and Justice (retd) Ikramullah Khan from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

The two positions had fallen vacant because of the retirement of Justice (retd) Altaf Ibrahim Qureshi from Punjab and Justice (retd) Irshad Qaiser from K-P.

President Arif Alvi had made these appointments under Article 218 (2)(b) of the Constitution on the advice of the prime minister.

(With input from APP)

“If someone is not happy with ECP over its decision then it is their choice,” said the CEC in an informal conversation with journalists in Islamabad. He added that the ECP always acted in accordance with the Constitution and the relevant laws.

The comments of the ECP chief came as a thinly-veiled reference to the criticism levelled by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and party chairman former prime minister Imran Khan, who have accused Raja of being biased towards the PTI, especially in the foreign funding case.

Raja, appointed during the PTI government, has been accused by the PTI of being a "mouthpiece" of the opposition.

Raja said the ECP was always ready to conduct elections and added the decision to announce new polls was the government’s domain. “Our job is to ensure transparent polls,” he added.

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According to the ECP chief, the delimitation exercise was underway at a quick pace. He added that the ECP’s stance regarding census results was clear that delimitation exercise could not be carried out before the official announcement of the census result. He added that the results of the 2017 census were published in March 2021 after which the work on delimitation kicked off.

The ECP head said in 2018, a constitutional amendment was passed regarding elections and delimitations. He added the government wanted to conduct a digital population census and added that the election watchdog could complete the delimitation process in time if the results of the census were available by December this year.

He said if the result were not made available by the end of this year then the election will be held on the basis of delimitation conducted as per the 2017 census.

Raja said the foreign funding case against the PTI was underway. He agreed that all parties needed a fair chance to defend themselves. However, he added that the journalists could judge better the events that transpired during the foreign funding case over the eight years.

About the mass resignations of the PTI, he said the National Assembly speaker has not forwarded these resignations to the ECP yet.

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