ECP always ready to conduct elections: CEC

ISLAMABAD: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja on Wednesday said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was always ready to conduct elections and would continue to make decisions without any fear.

During an informal chat with journalists here at the Election Commission Secretariat, on the occasion of swearing-in of two new members of the ECP, he emphasized: “The commission makes its decisions fearlessly and will continue to do so.”

Responding to allegations of bias by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leadership, he contended: “Everyone is our friend and the ECP makes decisions in accordance with the law and the Constitution. If anyone is unhappy with or disagrees with these decisions, it is their problem,” He was questioned about the general elections to which he replied that the ECP was always ready for elections and the government had to decide the new elections.

The chief election commissioner, who was appointed during the PTI government, maintained that the job of the ECP was to conduct fair elections. Work on constituencies was being done expeditiously and final delimitations were not possible before the release of official results of the census.

He said the ECP had a clear position on the census, the results of the 2017 census were released in May 2021 and the delimitation of constituencies was started thereafter, recalling that a constitutional amendment on constituencies and elections was introduced in 2018. “The government now wants a digital census and if the results are released by December 2022, the constituencies delimitation can be completed on time. If the results are delayed, the elections will be conducted on the basis of the 2017 census.”

About the alleged ECP’s lack of progress on the resignations of PTI lawmakers, he said former NA deputy speaker Qasim Suri had not referred the case to the ECP. To another question on the foreign funding case, he said it was under process and all parties must be given a chance to explain their position.

Earlier, he administered oath to two new ECP members Justice (retd) Ikramullah Khan from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Babar Hassan Bharwana from Punjab.