ISLAMABAD: A member of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from Punjab, retired Justice Riaz Hussain Kiani, has rejected accusati­ons of his inclination towards any specific political party and challenged his critics to prove the charge before the Supreme Judicial Council.

Talking to Dawn, he said that he would fight till the end to clear himself of the alleged stigmatisation. He said if anyone had some specific allegation against him he should bring it before the appropriate forum defined in the Constitution.

A number of opposition members at recent meetings of parliamentary committees had accused the ECP member of Punjab of favouring the PML-N in matters relating to elections.

Under Article 215 (2) of the Constitution, the Chief Election Commissioner and a member of the ECP cannot be removed from the office except in the manner prescribed in Article 209 of the Constitution for the removal from office of a judge.

The Article 209 talks of a Supreme Judicial Council consisting of Chief Justice of Pakistan, two next senior-most judges of the apex court and two senior-most judges of high courts.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2014