LAHORE (NNI): The resolution demanding the immediate resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja and the members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has been unanimously passed in the Punjab Assembly on Sunday.
The session of the provincial assembly began with newly-elected Speaker
Sibtain Khan administering the oath to his deputy, Wasiq Qayyum.
Qayyum was elected unopposed a day earlier after the Opposition announced a boycott of the polls. In today’s address, speaker Khan told the assembly that his deputy was elected after no one else submitted their nomination papers.
After the oath was administered, PTI lawmaker Syed Abbas Shah presented the motion against the Election Commission of Pakistan’s chief, which was later approved by the assembly.
The motion calls on CEC Raja to resign from his post. After the motion was passed, the Assembly was adjourned till August 15. It also calls for holding free and fair elections in the country. Elections are the only solution to bring the country out of the deteriorating political situation, inflation and economic recession, the House expressed no confidence in the CEC commissioners and their members, the resolution said.
The resolution demands that all political parties act to hold transparent elections in the country.
The PTI submitted the resolution earlier in the day with the assembly secretariat, and it was quickly approved. It also claimed that Imran Khan’s government in the center was removed by an international conspiracy and that after Khan’s ouster the country was plunged into a financial crisis. The PTI move against the ECP comes a day after the party decided to file a judicial reference against the chief election commissioner over his meeting with the government members. In a party meeting on Saturday, the PTI also decided to pass resolutions in the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies against the ECP officials.
The PMLN-led federal government has been urging the ECP to announce a verdict — it reserved months ago – in the foreign funding case against the PTI. In the funding case — which began 8 years ago — the PTI faces charges of receiving funds from foreign nationals — something prohibited under the country’s election laws.
The PTI has thwarted a verdict in the funding case by frequently approaching courts. The case was filed by Akbar S. Babar, a founding member of the PTI, who parted ways with Imran Khan in 2015.
Imran Khan supporters April this year held nationwide protests outside the ECP offices claiming that the electoral body was biased against the PTI. Although PTI accuses the ECP of bias, it won 15 of 20 seats in the Jul 17 byelections in Punjab. The victory let the party control legislature in Punjab. During the PA session on Sunday, newly elected Deputy Speaker Wasiq Qayyum took the oath of office. On the other hand, the Punjab Assembly has passed a resolution to pass the bill to reassign powers to the Secretary of the Assembly.
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