Mediaboss Marketing

ISLAMABAD: Former premier Imran Khans Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on Friday demanded Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja and his top team to resign, following a Supreme Court decision criticizing them for misconstruing one of its verdicts and forcing the party candidates to contest the Feb. 8 polls independently.

The apex court upheld the Election Commission of Pakistans (ECP) decision to strip the PTI of its electoral symbol, the cricket bat, for holding intra-party elections that were deemed to be flawed and not in keeping with its constitution.

Subsequently, the ECP rejected the nomination papers of PTI candidates, who were listed as independents with individual electoral symbols.

The court decision that came just weeks before the general elections significantly impacted PTIs ability to present a united front and contest the national polls with full preparation.

The Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja and all four commissioners of the Election Commission of Pakistan should resign immediately if they have any honor and self-respect after the clear decision of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Omar Ayub Khan, leader of the opposition in the

National Assembly and PTIs general secretary, said in a social media post.

The Election Commission was biased against PM Imran Khan and PTI, he added. The Election Commission is still biased against PM Imran Khan and PTI.

He also lambasted the electoral watchdog in a press conference, saying it interfered in his partys election campaign before refusing to allocate reserved seats for women and minorities to it on proportional basis.

Earlier, the Supreme Court delivered a landmark 8-5 verdict, saying the PTI party was eligible for these seats in parliament.

The short order made it clear the denial of the election symbol did not affect in any way PTIs right to be a political party or participate in elections.

Reading portion of a minority verdict, Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa noted the ECP had misinterpreted the courts earlier verdict related to PTIs election emblem.

The ECP by misinterpreting the judgment of this Court dated 13 January 2024, which was regarding non-holding [of] intra-party elections in PTI, wrongly mentioned the said candidates of the PTI as independents in Form 33 of the Election Rules, he said. The ECP had no authority to declare validly nominated candidates of a political party to be independent candidates.

The PTI is currently entitled to around 23 reserved seats in the National Assembly, which does not affect the parliamentary majority of the Sharif-led coalition administration.

Political parties are allocated a total number of 70 reserved seats, including 60 for women and 10 for non-Muslims, in proportion to the number of seats won in general elections. This completes the National Assemblys total 336 seats.

A simple majority in Pakistans parliament is 169 out of 336 seats.

Go here to see the original:
Pakistan says deeply values cooperation with Afghanistan as ties sour over deportations, militancy - Arab News Pakistan