The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) will demonstrate outside the offices of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on April 26 (Tuesday) to register its protest against the “attitude” of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja, former information minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain announced on Sunday.
In a posting on Twitter, Fawad said that the PTI’s political committee had met on Sunday and reviewed issues related to the ECP. Alleging that the CEC had “crossed the limits” of “impartiality and dishonesty,” he went on to claim that the ECP was delaying the issuance of notifications to remove dissident members of the PTI from the National Assembly “under a preconceived plan.”
In light of this, said the PTI leader, the party had decided to protest in front of ECP offices across Pakistan on April 26 (Tuesday). “Instructions to this effect are being issued to all district offices of the PTI,” he added.
The PTI has ramped up its criticism of the ECP and the CEC since being ousted from power, with the campaign reaching the highest levels of the party following an Islamabad High Court ruling of April 14 that directed the electoral body to decide the PTI’s foreign funding case within 30 days.
Observers say the PTI’s criticisms appear designed to malign the foreign funding case, which has been pending since 2014. If the PTI is found guilty of receiving funds from sources not linked to Pakistan, it risks an outright ban, with Chairman Imran Khan facing an extreme penalty of disqualification from holding public office for life. As the case has neared completion, the PTI has sought to delay proceedings by demanding rival parties PPP and PMLN be simultaneously probed for their sources of funding. However, the petition against the PPP and PMLN was filed at the end of 2020—over six years after the case against the PTI was filed by its founding member, Akbar S. Babar.
On Saturday, while addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Khan demanded CEC Raja resign, claiming the PTI, as a major political party of the country, had lost its “trust” in him.
Not resigning
Meanwhile, in a statement to private broadcaster DawnNews, the CEC said he had no intention of resigning as he had no valid reason to do so. “I am working in the best interests of the country and shall continue to do so,” he said.
Raja was appointed the CEC in January 2020 after deliberations by a bipartisan parliamentary panel. His name was nominated by the PTI—though Khan now claims it was submitted by the security establishment—with the ousted premier hailing his “good work” as recently as January 2021.