ISLAMABAD: The ruling party, Pakistan Tehreek- e -Insaf (PTI), levelled serious allegations of corruption against Chief Election Commissioner, Raja Sikander Sultan. here on Friday and hinted to move a reference against him before Supreme Judicial Council (SJC).
Railway minister, Azam Swati, initiated the fight at a meeting of the standing committee by accusing CEC of taking bribe to oppose the electronic voting machine (EVM) project.
This was too much to create a political storm in the country. In the first instance, the officials of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) walked out of the standing committee meeting to record protest over Mr Swati’s allegations . In a follow- up development, CEC summoned an emergent meeting of ECP members to review the situation in the context of Azam Swati’s allegations.
Mr Swati too rushed to prime minister, Imran Khan, to brief him on the storming development that occured in the standing committee meeting. The prime minister did hear the tale of Azam Swati as it was a matter of serious concern. After hearing Mr Swati’s tale, the prime minister directed him to go to the press to create public awareness on the government point of view on the electoral reforms. Following top man instructions, Mr Swati held a press conference with Babar Awan, advisor to PM on Legal Affairs and Fawad Chaudhary, federal minister for Information. The ministers took the fight against CEC to the next stage by hinting at filing a reference against him to SJC. At the press conference, the ruling trioka declared that the government would go ahead for electoral reforms come what may.
Fawad Chaudhary said the EC office was basically acting as a liasoning office of the opposition. He sought CEC resignation if he wanted to do politics.
The opposition sprang -up soon after Mr Swati’s outburst against CEC. Former prime minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi , held a press conference here along with Ahsin Iqbal, a senior Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) leader. They called Mr Swati’s outburst against CEC a direct on ECP. Opposition leader, Shahbaz Sharif, deplored Mr Swati’s attack on CEC and said the ruling party’s anti- CEC campaign shows the PTI government has no defence to the points raised by ECP against EVM. Pakistan People Party”s senator, Sheri Rehman demanded inquiry into Azam Swati’s allegations of corruption against CEC.