PTI files reference against Chief Election Commissioner

PTI files reference against Chief Election Commissioner. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) moved a reference before the Supreme Judicial Council against Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja on Thursday.

Two days after the announcement of the verdict by the Election Commission of Pakistan in the prohibited funding case, the reference pleaded with the SJC to order removal of the CEC on account of the “commission of continuous and deliberate misconduct”.

The reference alleged that on July 29, a delegation of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) met the CEC and four other members of the ECP in his office to “pressure” him into announcing the verdict in the prohibited funding case.

It was a consequence of that meeting that the Election Commission decided to deliver the verdict on Aug 2, PTI alleged.

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Thus the CEC allegedly violated his oath, the reference argued.

While PTI lawmakers on Thursday afternoon made their way through barbed wires and barricades to reach outside the Election Commission of Pakistan’s office in Islamabad and registered their protest against the electoral body.

They were, however, stopped at the headquarters’ gate by a contingent of police and Rangers personnel.

The protesters included PTI leaders Faisal Javed Khan, Fawad Chaudhry, Pervez Khattak, Asad Umar, Azam Swati, Shibli Faraz, and Kanwal Shauzab among others. They chanted “imported hukoomat namanzoor” slogans while marching towards the ECP office.

The demonstrators were also carrying placards inscribed with demands of Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja’s resignation. Some of the banners read “Biased chief election commissioner unacceptable” and “ECP abettors of PML-N, PPP”.