Islamabad:
The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) has dismissed the complaints filed against the Chief of Elections (CEC) commissioner and two members of the Pakistan Electoral Commission (ECP).
A statement 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 statement did not provide any details about the complaints.
Although the five -year mandate of CEC Raja, the member of Sindh Durrani and the member of Baluchistan, Jatoi, ended on January 26, will remain in the position in line with the 26th constitutional amendment.
The amendment allows the CEC and the members to remain in office until their successors are designated. According to article 215 (4) of the Constitution, these appointments must be made within 45 days. However, the deadline changed on March 12 without any tangible progress.
The raja mandate has been tarnished by the controversies, and the opposition criticizes it frequently for delays in celebrating general elections, the denial of the “bat” symbol of PTI and the alleged manipulation of the survey results.
The PTI had filed a complaint with the SJC in July 2024 seeking the elimination of Raja and four ECP members. The complaint claimed that the order of the Atx Court of July 12 said that the electoral supervisor 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 former ruling party.
