The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) announced the dismissal of complaints against the chief election commissioner (CEC) and two members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), it emerged on Saturday.
The SJC is a judicial body comprising of Chief Justice of Pakistan, two most senior Judges of the Supreme Court and two most senior Chief Justices of High Courts, according to the Supreme Court’s website.
A press release dated Aug 15 read that complaints against “CEC Mr Sikandar Sultan Raja and members of ECP, Mr Nisar Ahmed Durrani and Mr Shah Muhammad Jatoi, have been dismissed by the SJC in its meetings held on Nov 8, 2024 and Dec 13, 2024”.
The SJC’s statement did not provide any details regarding the complaints.
The five-year terms of CEC Raja, Sindh Member Durrani and Balochistan Member Jatoi ended on Jan 26, but they will continue to hold 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 till their successors come in. As per Article 215(4) of the Constitution, the appointment of the CEC and members must be completed within 45 days. This deadline expired on March 12, yet no concrete steps were taken.
Raja’s term is characterised by controversies. He is often criticised by the opposition for his failure to hold timely general elections, denying PTI its ‘bat’ symbol and alleged manipulation of election results.
Although the statement did not mention the complainants, the PTI had filed a complaint before the SJC in July 2024 seeking the removal of Raja and four members of the ECP. The complaint alleged that the July 12 order of the SC has held that the ECP used powers in violation of the Constitution with malice and made a skewed interpretation of the Jan 13 judgement of denying election symbol of ‘bat’ to the party.
Distrust in the CEC had been expressed long before the delayed general elections of 2024. In 2022, PTI filed a reference before the SJC to order the removal of Raja on account of the “commission of continuous and deliberate misconduct”.
