Govt wants CEC, members to quit

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: The government Monday asked the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Sikandar Sultan Raja, to resign and demanded reconstitution of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), as it failed to hold the recently-held Senate elections in a transparent manner.

"It was a longstanding demand of the prime minister that the power of money should not be used to influence elections," Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood said while speaking at a press conference.

He was flanked by Information Minister Shibli Faraz and Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Hussain Chaudhry, reports Geo News. "For this purpose, the premier wanted the Senate elections to be held via an open ballot." Mehmood said it was the sole responsibility of the ECP to ensure that transparent polls were held.

He said the government had told ECP to implement a system wherein it would not be possible for corrupt practices to take place.

Mehmood said the ECP instead failed to uphold its mandate and deliver on its responsibility. "To ensure transparent elections is the responsibility of the Election Commission. This responsibility was not fulfilled," he said. "The Election Commission failed to act as a neutral umpire, hence [its officials] should resign," added Mehmood.

Mehmood said the PTI was the largest political party in the country and it did not have confidence in the ECP. "If you ask other parties, even they don't have confidence in the ECP after the recently held elections," he said. "The ECP's officials should therefore collectively resign and a new commission should be formed, which enjoys the trust of all parties."

Mehmood noted that no political party in Pakistan was happy with the results of the Senate elections, adding that whatever transpired during the recently-held polls was a result of the ECP’s ‘failure’.

He also criticised the attack on Dr Shahbaz Gill earlier in the day, alleging that the PML-N instigated it. "A disappointing incident took place today in which shoes and ink were thrown at Shahbaz Gill," he said. "We condemn this attack."

"When matters go according to the wishes of the PML-N, everything is fine; however,when things go against them, the party decides to attack," said the minister. "The PML-N has been responsible for an attack on the Supreme Court in the past," he recalled.

"When the prime minister was seeking a vote of confidence, their leaders arrived [outside the parliament] to instigate a fight," added Mehmood. He said the PML-N should reflect on its decisions and actions, which were taking politics towards confrontation and violence.

Tensions between the government and the ECP rose to fever pitch after PTI lost the important Senate election for the Islamabad General seat when former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani defeated Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh despite not having sufficient numbers in his camp.

In his address to the nation following the election, PM Imran Khan had lashed out at the ECP and accused it of allowing horse-trading to take place. The Commission hit back at the government a day later, saying that it has "never come under any sort of pressure and God willing, will not in the future as well".

"We cannot ignore the law and the Constitution to please anyone," the ECP had said. Asim Yasin Meanwhile, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Monday said the government’s demand for resignation of chief election commissioner (CEC) was based on mala fide intentions and victimisation.

“It has been proven now that the selected government wants selected institutions,” PPP Secretary General Syed Nayyar Hussain Bokhari said.

Bokhari said the demand was tantamount to putting influence and pressure. “If the government has reservations about any decision, then many constitutional and legal options are available,” he said.

Bukhari said the government only wanted that the ECP should work on their directions instead of the Constitution. He said if an institution was not influenced by the government, the government started criticising it.

He said the PPP stood with the Election Commission on its constitutional and legal issues. Jamaat-e-Islami Monday rejected the government’s demand to the chief election commissioner to resign, saying the PTI government which had been committing violations of the Constitution in every sphere of life should tender resignation first.

JI Naib Ameer Liaquat Baloch while talking to the media said Prime Minister Imran Khan had earlier praised the same CEC as honest and upright, but now he had taken a U-turn after the CEC did not toe the government’s unconstitutional line to hold the Senate polls through the open ballot.

He said PTI had pushed every national institution to the wall in its nearly three years rule, and now wanted to bulldoze the Election Commission as well. He said the prime minister had badly failed to deliver on every front, and in desperation he wanted to take every constitutional institution under his control. Baloch noted that nobody could install secret cameras on the Senate polling booths without the knowledge and green signal of chairman Senate.