Daily Times

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja Wednesday said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) would continue to make decisions in accordance with the law and without any pressure. Talking to the media in Islamabad, the chief election commissioner said the Election Commission makes decisions without any fear and regardless of whether anyone was happy with its decisions or not.

He said the top priority of the ECP was to obey the Constitution of Pakistan. “Our decisions are based on the law and legislation concerned.”

He said the ECP was always ready to hold free, fair, and transparent elections. However, it was the mandate of the government to announce the date for elections, he added.

“Our task is to make the best possible arrangements for holding elections.”

He said the ECP had continued its work on early completion of delimitation. He said the hearing is the foreign funding case was on.

“It is necessary to give appropriate time to every party to hear their viewpoint.” Raja said “everyone is our friend” and the ECP makes decisions according to the law and Constitution.

The PTI has accused Raja and the Election Commission of bias, with former prime minister Imran Khan frequently calling on him to step down. On May 11, the party announced plans to file a reference against Raja, with Fawad Chaudhry saying the “biggest political party had lost trust in him”.

On April 16, PTI leader and former human rights minister Dr Shireen Mazari had blamed the ECP for his “bias” against the party, a day after the commission had announced that would hold daily hearings of the foreign funding case against the PTI. Three days later, Imran had claimed that Raja’s name for the CEC office was suggested by the establishment after a deadlock between the then government and the opposition. He had suggested that the chief election commissioner should be appointed through an independent body.

Raja however maintained that he was working in the best interest of the country and that there was no reason for him to step down.

“The ECP has a clear stance on the census,” he said, adding that the results of the 2017 census were released in May 2021 and the demarcation of boundaries for constituencies was started after that. The CEC recalled that a constitutional amendment was introduced with regard to delimitation and elections in 2018.

“The government now wants a digital census and delimitation can be completed on time if its results are released by December 2022,” he said.

“If the results are delayed, the election will be held on the basis of the 2017 census.”

To a question about why the ECP had not made any progress on the resignations of PTI dissident lawmakers, the CEC replied that former deputy speaker Qasim Suri had not referred the case to the ECP.

Earlier, the CEC administered the oath to two new members of the ECP.

Justice (retd) Ikramullah Khan was sworn in as the ECP member from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Babar Hassan Bharwana as the member from Punjab.