Angry rebuff to PTI: ECP says none of its members will resign

Insists that the LG polls in Punjab and Sindh will be held under the incumbent commission

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) rebuffed on Monday Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan’s fresh demand that its members relinquish charge immediately, insisting that they would instead supervise the upcoming local bodies’ election in Punjab and Sindh.

“None of the four members of the commission will resign,” Iftikhar Raja, a spokesman for the ECP, told reporters. The local government (LG) elections in Punjab and Sindh will be held under the incumbent commission, he added.

Imran Khan in his formal reaction to the findings of the Judicial Commission that probed rigging claims in the 2013 general elections had demanded that members of the ECP should resign.

Read: Rigging inquiry report: Imran calls for heads to roll at ECP

The three-member Judicial Commission, headed by Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk, in its final ruling validated the previous polls. It held that the PTI failed to produce cogent evidence that could prove that there was any systematic rigging in the last elections.

The spokesman termed the demand unfounded. The ECP comprises a chief election commissioner (CEC) – a retired judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and four members – retired judges of high courts, one from every province.

He said that the PTI can build public pressure on the members but it cannot remove any of them unless it adopts the procedure laid down in the Constitution.

The spokesman said that Sindh chief secretary has asked for a delay in conducting LG elections in the province and supported the demand that the polls be held in different phases. Punjab has already proposed the same.

According to a verdict given by the Supreme Court in March this year, LG polls in the two provinces should be held by September 20.

If the commission would have gone as per directions of the apex court, it should notify the schedule for elections by Tuesday (today). However, the ECP spokesperson said it is unlikely that the commission would announce the schedule today.

Read: Wealth disclosure : Lawmakers asked to submit asset details

According to him, Sindh wants to hold the LG polls in phases, with the first phase starting in the first week of October and the entire process to be wrapped up by the end of November. Punjab has already floated a similar proposal.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 28^th, 2015.