PTI again moves judicial council for CEC Sikandar Raja's removal

Petition claims electoral chief has 'illicit relationship' with current govt and has lost sight of his oath

ISLAMABAD:

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Tuesday once again moved the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) for the removal of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja under claims that he is biased in favour of certain political parties.

The petition, filed by PTI Central Vice President Ejaz Ahmed Chaudhry, claimed that the incumbent CEC was “not fit to hold the constitutional post under Article 213” – which discusses the appointment of the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) chief by the president.

It furthered that due to “ulterior motives” the ECP did not accept the resignations of the 123 PTI National Assembly members (MNAs) after they resigned en masse in protest of former premier Imran Khan’s ouster.

The CEC “in connivance with the imported/imposed government took no time to issue a notification…whereby the resignations of only 11 MNAs of PTI were accepted”, the petition declared

It maintained that CEC Sikandar was “known to have malice against” the PTI and its chief Imran Khan and “conveniently went along with the government in the selective culling of PTI MNAs”.

“The conduct of the Respondent Chief Election Commissioner in accepting the resignations in a piecemeal manner is clearly indicative of [the] fact that he is favouring a political party and clearly has an ill will against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf”.

It added that the electoral chief had “lost sight of the oath [he] took”.

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The petition further alleged that the “collusion and connivance” of the CEC and ECP was more evident in the case of prohibited funding wherein the PTI had requested that the electoral watchdog scrutinises the accounts of all political parties but Sikandar “chose otherwise while discriminatingly singling out” the former ruling party.

“This clearly establishes the mala fide, biasness and collusion on part of the Chief Election Commissioner”.

The petition also maintained that the CEC’s “illicit relationship” with the current government was apparent as earlier he had refused to postpone elections in the PTI stronghold of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa despite “genuine concerns…owing to the prevailing weather conditions” but was “more than willing to accommodate” the request of the government and postpone local government elections in Sindh.

It concluded that the CEC “had clearly violated his oath” and the ECP’s code of conduct as he continued his “clear discriminatory attitude” making his integrity “questionable”.

Initial petition

In August, the PTI filed its reference in a bid to remove the CEC Sikandar Sultan Raja from the post.

According to details, the reference was filed by overseas Pakistani Aslam Malik on behalf of the PTI and sent to the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) whereby the removal of CEC and other senior officials from their respective offices was sought.

The reference contends that the ECP – the electoral watchdog, was guilty of misconduct in the PTI prohibited funding case, seriously violating the country’s laws by declaring overseas Pakistanis as foreigners and the verdict against the party, therefore, is unconstitutional.

The CEC and other members reneged on their oath, the reference alleged while also stating that the commission made “many decisions that fall under misconduct in the past” as well.