Daily Times

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Thursday took back the reference against Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja minutes after it was submitted to the Supreme Judicial Council.

The reference, taken back from the registrar’s office, pleaded to remove CEC Raja from his post due to misconduct, reports said. Earlier in a tweet, former prime minister Imran Khan maintained that the CEC and Election Commission of Pakistan are in cahoots with the “imported” government and tried a technical knockout against PTI after Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) got routed in the Punjab by-elections despite support of state machinery and ECP shenanigans.

He has continuously maintained that the chief election commissioner meets Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) leaders secretly to conspire against PTI.

Earlier on August 3, the PTI chief, during an interview with a private TV channel, had said the “neutrals” had assured him that CEC Raja will stay impartial, and therefore he agreed on the appointment. Speaking to the media after the reference was taken back, former information and law minister warned the “imported” government that if they pull any shenanigans in the federal capital then the PTI lead government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and de facto government in Punjab will fill the prisons of the province with leaders of PDM and its allies. PTI leader and former information minister Fawad Chaudhry, while talking to journalists in the federal capital, said that the party had decided to add more evidence to the reference to make it more concrete.

Points related to the alleged change in the ECP’s verdict on prohibited funding against the PTI would be included in the reference, he added.

Chaudhry said that the party would file the reference against the head of the election body after adding more legal points to the petition. The PTI filed a reference with the JCP, seeking the removal of CEC Raja citing his “continuous deliberate misconduct”, a day after the election commission’s verdict on the foreign funding case, stating that the party had received prohibited funding.

“I t is humbly prayed that […] Supreme Judicial Council may graciously be pleased to remove the respondent from his office of Chief Election Commissioner on account of commission of continuous deliberate misconduct of perming his legal and constitutional duties and obligations,” read the reference filed by PTI’s counsel Babar Awan on behalf of the party. The PTI leader hinted at approaching the Supreme Court against the PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif’s return to Pakistan. In an interview with a media publication, Chaudhry said that the PTI will approach the Supreme Court and might ask the court to take an action against the “fake affidavit” submitted by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for the return of his elder brother, Nawaz, after treatment.