ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Thursday welcomed Supreme Court of Pakistan’s directives to Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to consult the president on election date after February 11 proposal, but demanded action against the chief election commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja for delaying elections from time to time.

The central secretary information PTI Raoof Hasan, said that the CEC be taken to task as he is the one who is a contemnor of the constitution four times over.

“He [CEC] failed to hold by-elections to the vacant national assembly seats. He failed to hold elections for the dissolved provincial assemblies of Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and he delayed the holding of general elections within 90 days of the dissolution of assembly,” he added.

He continued that the Supreme Court’s ordering the CEC to meet the President and decide the date of elections in the country is welcome, but it is not enough.

In the same breath, he said that the CEC has knowingly and consciously violated the constitution for which he has rendered himself liable to punishment as prescribed in the constitution.

Hasan said that CEC Raja owes an apology twice over: to the office of the President who is the Supreme Commander of the armed forces and a symbol of the federation, and to the whole nation whose right to vote as enshrined in the constitution was denied to them.

“If he [the CEC] is not punished by the apex court, the tradition of violation of the constitution will become a norm, thus denying people their rights as citizens of the country,” he maintained.

According to Hasan, the foundations of the state shall crumble, adding Sikander Sultan Raja must be held accountable for his grievous constitutional crimes without delay.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023