A complaint was submitted in the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) seeking removal of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja and four members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for failing to discharge their constitutional duties, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Saturday.

The complaint was jointly moved by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Sindh chapter leader Haleem Adil Shaikh, retired Islamabad High Court (IHC) judge Justice Noor-ul-Haq Qureshi and member of Sindh Assembly Muhammad Shabbir Ahmed.

The complainants sought removal of the CEC and the ECP members on a series of serious allegations including pre-poll, poll day, and post-poll rigging, as well as the malicious misrepresentation of the Supreme Court orders.

According to the submission to the SJC, the CEC and the ECP members failed to fulfil their constitutional responsibilities and tried to undermine the mandate of PTI and court decisions.

Filed through Barrister Ali Tahir, the complainants stated that more than 120 million voters were affected by the actions of the CEC and the ECP members. They said the ECP appointed politically-backed bureaucracy in the general elections as returning officers (ROs) and district returning officers (DROs). .

The complaint text said the ECP first deprived the PTI of its electoral symbol and then its nominated members of the party name. In the complaint, it has been requested that an inquiry should be initiated into the allegations levelled against the CEC and the ECP members.

The complainants argued that the respondents have wrongfully declared candidates from the complainant's party as independents in the elections violating the spirit of the Constitution and the Supreme Court's orders, and undermining democracy in the country which they are bound to uphold.

Following the Supreme Court's verdict on petitions related to reserved seats, the complainants sought the immediate accountability of the respondents. They stated that the ECP attempted to undermine the PTI mandate, but the Supreme Court's ruling had exposed unconstitutional and illegal activities of the election commissioners accounting to gross misconduct.

They said according to Article 224 of the Constitution, general elections must take place within 60 days of an assembly completing its term, or within 90 days if an assembly is dissolved prematurely. “This constitutional requirement was neither met for the National Assembly nor the provincial assemblies by the respondent election commissioners, and as such they have breached their oaths to abide by the Constitution and law,” they added.

Reporter Amanat Gishkori