ISLAMABAD— The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday took notice of the criticism being made on Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan.
Imran Khan constantly attacking Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja, after turned down PTI request to hear foreign funding cases of PTI, PMLN and PPP collectively. In his latest attack, Imran Khan called Sikandar Raja a “planted agent” of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N),.
The commission has sought the record of the speech at the PTI workers’ convention in Peshawar from the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra).
Since his appointment to the office in January 2020, Raja — who happens to be the son-in-law of Saeed Mehdi, former principal secretary to Khan’s disgraced predecessor Nawaz Sharif — has been at the helm of a series of decisions against the PTI, the party insists.
On Saturday, in his first press conference after leaving office, Khan said his party did not trust Raja because all his decisions were against the PTI and called for his resignation.
Responding to the presser, Raja said he had “no intention of tendering my resignation,” before adding that there was no valid reason to “think like that”.
“I am working in the best interest of the country and shall continue to do so.”
During his latest speech on April 26, Khan called Raja a “planted agent” of the PML-N. “Raja has lost all his credibility and he should immediately resign,” he said.
The PTI chairman had also urged his supporters to start a campaign to collect signatures on an online petition against the chief election commissioner.
He had said that when the result of the foreign funding case would be announced there would be just one party that would emerge with legal funding and it would be PTI.
Interestingly, in an informal conversation with journalists last week, Khan said that Raja’s name for the office was proposed by the military establishment following a deadlock between the then government and the opposition.
Before Khan, Azam Swati, a senior PTI leader, too had suggested Khan’s government had to swallow a “bitter pill” on Raja’s appointment.
In his last week’s conversation with journalists, the former prime minister had also said the PTI would file a reference against Raja as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had displayed “incompetence” by not completing the delimitation of constituencies on time thereby delaying early elections.
