The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) announced the dismissal of complaints against the Chief of Elections (CEC) commissioner and two members of the Pakistan Electoral Commission (ECP), emerged on Saturday.
The SJC is a judicial agency that includes the president of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, two most important judges of the Supreme Court and two higher judges of the Superior Courts, according to the website of the Supreme Court.
A press release dated August 15 said that complaints against “Cec Mr. Sikandar Sultan Raja and ECP members, Mr. Nisar Ahmed Durrani and Mr. Shah Muhammad Jatoi, have been fired by the SJC in their meetings held on November 8, 2024 and December 13, 2024”.
The SJC statement did not provide any details about the complaints.
The terms of five years of CEC Raja, the member of Sindh Durrani and the member of Baluchistan Jatoi ended on January 26, but will continue to maintain the offices under the 26th amendment made in the Constitution in October last year.
The controversial amendment allowed the CEC and the members to continue until their successors enter. According to article 215 (4) of the Constitution, the appointment of the CEC and the members must be completed within 45 days. This period expired on March 12, but no concrete measures were taken.
The raja term is characterized by controversies. It is often criticized for the opposition for its failure to celebrate timely general elections, denying PTI its ‘bat’ symbol and an alleged manipulation of electoral results.
Although the statement did not mention the plaintiffs, the PTI had filed a complaint with the SJC in July 2024 in search of the elimination of Raja and four members of the ECP. The complaint claimed that the order of the SC of July 12 has argued that the ECP used powers in violation of the Constitution with malice and made a biased interpretation of the judgment of January 13 to deny the electoral symbol of ‘bat’ to the party.
The distrust of the CEC had been expressed long before the delayed general elections of 2024. In 2022, PTI presented a reference before the SJC to order the elimination of slit due to the “continuous and deliberate masse commission.”
