SC dismisses plea challenging CEC’s appointment

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday dismissed a petition challenging the appointment of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) after the petitioner failed to submit solid grounds for dismissal of Sikandar Sultan Raja.

A two-member bench of the apex court, headed by acting Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Umer Ata Bandial, upheld the objections raised by the Registrar Office and dismissed the petition.

The court held that the appointment of ECP members, including the election commissioner, was based on merit and competency. Ali Azeem Afridi had filed a petition under Article 184(3) of the Constitution challenging the appointment of Sikandar Sultan Raja as the Chief Election Commissioner.

He had contended that his grievance revolved around Section 4 of the Constitution (Twenty-Second Amendment) Act, 2016, to the extent of allowing the nomination of a senior civil servant and a technocrat as the CEC by treating them on a par with that of a Supreme Court judge and on that score, enabling them to supervise the role of a high court judge while acting as a member of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) under Article 218(2)(b).

While lawyers representing the Chief Election Commissioner had submitted before the court that the petition was not maintainable and was liable to be dismissed. They had contended that the petitioner was not an aggrieved person in terms of Article 199 and added that a constitutional amendment passed by Parliament couldn’t be struck down if it was challenged by a single individual.

Similarly, the Registrar Office had returned the instant petition after raising objections that the petitioner had failed to convince as to the issue he had raised relates to public importance. On Wednesday, during the course of the proceeding, the court asked the petitioner to tell about serving judges in the Election Commission of Pakistan.

The petitioner replied in negative at which the court observed that there was no need to proceed further with the matter. “You had mentioned in your petition that a retired bureaucrat cannot be appointed as Chief Election Commissioner”, acting Chief Justice asked Afridi.

“You have also said that there should be a consultation of Chief Justice of Pakistan in the appointment of Chief Election Commissioner”, Justice Bandial further asked the petitioner. The acting Chief Justice further asked the petitioner if he had gone through the judgment in the case of appointment of Chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB)

Chief Election Commissioner and NAB Chairman are not judicial officers”, Justice Bandial told the petitioner. Similarly, the acting Chief Justice observed that the petitioner had also challenged the 22nd constitutional amendment. Justice Bandial observed that as per constitutional, a constitutional amendment cannot be challenged. Meanwhile, the court dismissed the petition with the ruling that no solid grounds for dismissal of Chief Election Commissioner was given by the petitioner.