PTI moves SJC against CEC
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Tuesday filed a reference in the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), requesting the removal of incumbent Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja for not being fit to hold the constitutional post.
The petition alleges discrimination and bias against PTI by notification of 11 resignations of PTI MNAs in a piecemeal fashion, agreeing to postpone Sindh and Punjab LG polls while rejecting a similar request by KP govt and singling out the PTI in the foreign funding case while sparing others.
Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Central Vice President of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has filed the reference in the Supreme Judicial Council under Article 209 of the Constitution, making Sikandar Sultan Raja, Chief Election Commissioner, Election Commission of Pakistan, as respondent.
Filed through Dr Babar Awan, the PTI submitted that Article 5 of the Constitution enshrines that loyalty to the state and obedience to the Constitution is the basic duty of every citizen. However, the incumbent Chief Election Commissioner in performance of his constitutional role has not only exposed himself as being biased, dishonest and unfaithful to the constitutional post he is holding but has also violated the oath he has taken under Article 214 of the Constitution.
“The clear discriminatory attitude of the incumbent Chief Election Commissioner has also made his integrity clearly questionable,” the PTI contended. It submitted that during the proceedings of the vote of no confidence through ‘Operation Regime Change’ against the-then prime minister Imran Khan, it was decided by the PTI parliamentary party on April 11, 2022, to tender their resignations en-bloc from the National Assembly following which all 123 members of the PTI tendered their resignations, en masse to protect the mandate of citizens of Pakistan, to the Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri, which were purportedly accepted by him under Article 64 (1) of the Constitution.
The resignations were duly published in the official gazette on April 13, 2022 and sent to the Election Commission of Pakistan and the said notification was issued by the secretary National Assembly. However, the same were not notified by the Election Commission of Pakistan with ulterior motives nor their notification as returned candidates were withdrawn.
The PTI submitted that though none of the PTI MNAs, who had tendered their resignations personally, appeared before the incumbent Speaker National Assembly Raja Pervez Ashraf yet the Speaker, without undergoing the process laid down in the Constitution and the dicta so held by the superior judiciary, purportedly chose to single out a few PTI MNAs and thus wrongfully communicated confirmation of 11 resignations vide notification dated July 28, 2022. Thereafter the Chief Election Commissioner, in connivance with the ‘imported government’, issued a notification on July 29, 2022 accepting the resignations of only 11 MNAs of PTI.
“The issuance of the notification is contrary to Article 64(1) of the Constitution,” the PTI contended adding that the Chief Election Commissioner, being the head of the apex constitutional body, mandated to look after the elections to both the Houses of parliament, was under obligation to oversee whether all the constitutional requirements were duly met before notifying vacancy of National Assembly seats.
It was his constitutional mandate and obligation to have seen whether the speaker had acted within his powers and in accordance with rules before accepting any such resignations but instead of living up to the expected fairness and impartiality, the chief election commissioner, who is known to have malice against the petitioner political party and its chairman, acted with undue haste and hand in gloves with the imported regime, the PTI contended.
The PTI further submitted “the collusion and connivance of the CEC is even more evident in the Prohibited Fund Case when, the petitioner’s political head requested the Chief Election Commissioner to take up and scrutinise the accounts of all the 17 political parties but most dismayingly, the CEC chose otherwise and while discriminatingly singling out the petitioner, gave verdict only in the case against PTI and has left the other political parties related matters pending. This clearly establishes the malafide, bias and collusion on part of the Chief Election Commissioner”.
The illicit relationship of the incumbent CEC with the imported government is also clear, the PTI contended, from his actions and order when he earlier refused to postpone the second phase of local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa despite the prevailing weather condition. But the CEC willingly accommodated the similar requests of the Sindh and Punjab governments and ordered to postpone the local government elections in Sindh.
The PTI further contended that the senior leadership of PTI has on a number of occasions expressed their reservations on the conduct of the respondent CEC as “being biased and dictated by the imported government” who has quite clearly embarked on a witch hunt against PTI.
Besides, the CEC upon dictation of Mian Saab from London has accepted the resignations of 11 MNAs of PTI in a piecemeal manner, which is a grave violation of articles 213, 64, 214 of the Constitution, the PTI contended adding that indeed, the CEC as per Article 213, 214, 218 was under a direct constitutional obligation to exercise all powers vested in him in a bona fide manner.
The PTI prayed the Supreme Judicial Council to accept its reference and remove CEC Sikandar Sultan Raja Raja for not being fit to hold the constitutional office under Article 213 of the Constitution and has failed to discharge his constitutional duties under articles 214 and 218 of the Constitution.
