• Seeks removal of CEC over alleged misconduct
• Says ECP ‘disobeyed’ SC orders, ‘sabotaged’ its functioning as a political party
• Urges accountability for unconstitutional actions

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on Saturday instituted a complaint before the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) seeking a thorough inquiry by accusing Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sultan Sikandar Raja and members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) of becoming incapable of performing their constitutional duties and thus guilty of misconduct.

The complaint was jointly filed by the PTI and its secretary general Omar Ayub Khan, highlighting that the constitutional obligation dem­ands the ECP to act independently without taking sides in favour of or against any political party. Other members of the commission named in the complaint are Babar Hassan Bhar­wana, Nisar Ahmed Dur­rani, Shah Muhammad Jatoi, and retired Justice Ikramullah Khan.

The ECP, under its constitutional obligation, cannot restrict or stop any political party from functioning and carrying out political activities, nor can it shut its eyes if any acts and violations are taking place due to which elections are not being conducted honestly, justly, fairly, and in accordance with the law, the complaint said.

The complaint emphasised that the ECP, through different decisions, actions, and omissions, acted contrary to the constitution, their oath, and disobeyed the orders of the Supreme Court, and sabotaged the functioning of PTI as a political party, the complaint alleged.

It claimed that the ECP blatantly disregarded any form of neutrality and even violated the fundamental rights of the people of Pakistan.

“Thus, the CEC and members of the commission are liable to be removed for misconduct in the interest of justice,” it added.

The complaint alleged that the ECP violated and breached its constitutional duties, obligations, and responsibilities; therefore, the CEC and other members must be replaced due to serious allegations of misconduct, including pre-poll, poll day, and post-poll riggings as detailed below.

The complainants seek accountability for the unconstitutional act­ions of the ECP, the complaint emphasised. It alleged that the ECP executed a grand scheme to disqualify former premier Imran Khan, and removed him as PTI chairman, thereby disabling him from participating in politics and damaging PTI as a political party, and then to “disqualify” PTI altogether from contesting the elections.

The first step that was taken by the ECP, which is contrary to the constitution and law, and violated its constitutional duty and obligation under Article 218 of the constitution, was to de-seat former prime minister Imran Khan from the National Assembly seat (Mianwali). This was done by the ECP at the behest of the Speaker National Assembly, who belonged to PML-N, the complaint alleged.

The complaint alleged that the ECP became a prosecutor by filing a criminal complaint before the Special Judge and obtained a conviction against Imran Khan on August 28, 2023, in the Toshakhana case, in which the sentence has been suspended, and later disqualified him. With the same mala fide intention, the complaint alleged, the ECP took up the prohibited funding case and conducted a manipulated investigation against PTI, which was still continuing.

On the other hand, no other political party was investigated for similar allegations despite the directions of the Supreme Court. To date, the investigations of other political parties are pending, as the ECP has thus ignored the directions of the Supreme Court and refused to conduct an inquiry into the finances of political parties other than PTI, the complaint said, adding that this reflects complete bias of the ECP against PTI.

‘‘Continuing with the alleged intention of harming and damaging PTI through illegal orders, the ECP decided that the reserved seats for women and minorities would not be given to PTI but allocated to other political parties proportionately. The reason given was that the reserved seats’ list given by PTI had been exhausted, and PTI could not add to this list. This too was an act contrary to the expressed provisions of the Constitution designed only to harm PTI,’’ the complaint alleged.

It further alleged the ECP decided that no PTI candidate would be recognised as a PTI candidate and instead would be treated as “independents” who would be allocated different symbols.

The idea of the ECP was to create complete chaos and confusion amongst the public in order to defeat PTI in the election.

The complaint alleged that the ECP allowed the caretaker set-up to continue inflicting atrocities upon PTI leaders and workers and failed to provide a level playing field for the election. ‘‘The events leading up to Feb 8 [elections] are well known and established.’’

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2024