Imran decides to appear before ECP on Oct 26

ISLAMABAD: Taking another U-turn, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Monday decided to appear before the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on October 26 in connection with the contempt of court case.

The decision was taken here at the party’s core group meeting, chaired by PTI Chairman Imran Khan who had declared earlier in categorical terms that he would not appear before the Election Commission and that if he were to be disqualified, he would not only quit the PTI but also politics. However, after the ECP issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Imran Khan, the decision was changed and now the PTI chairman will appear before ECP on October 26.

The forum, however, poured criticism on the electoral body for its failure to rectify the 40 lapses, pointed out by the judicial commission in the 2013 elections. After the meeting, a statement was issued, which said Imran Khan will go to the ECP voluntarily on October 26, 2017 without prejudice to PTI’s view on the issue of contempt taken before the Islamabad High Court of challenging the jurisdiction of the ECP on contempt.

The Election Commission had issued his non-bailable arrest warrants and asked for his production before the commission on October 26 for his repeated failures to comply with its orders.

“The primary job of the ECP is to hold fair and free elections and enforce the electoral laws and election code of conduct. The party’s core group categorically finds the ECP has failed entirely in this. The core group felt the CEC must realise the genuine grievances PTI has as a result of the events and action and in some cases inaction during hearings against the party as well as its chairman, and in by-elections,” the party said.

The PTI leadership emphasised that the lessons should have been learnt through 40 critiques pointed out by the judicial commission in the rigging case, have been ignored in all subsequent by-elections that have followed where the ECP failed to rectify any of these 40 lapses in electoral law.

“In addition, the CEC has sought to only scrutinise the PTI accounts, its funding and its overseas membership despite the fact that PTI is one of the few political parties to submit details of all its accounts every year before the ECP. The CEC ignoring grave violations of the election law and code on the part of the PML-N in by-elections like NA-120 and earlier in NA-122 has also led to serious issues being raised by the PTI core group,” the party core group said. 

The party leadership said if the PTI as a political party could not even state its concerns, critique of the CEC, to the public, then this is a direct undermining of democratic political norms.