ECP seeks records of Imran Khan's anti-CEC remarks from PEMRA

• ECP writes letter to PEMRA asking for records of addresses by Imran Khan, Khurram Sher Zaman, Haleem Adil Sheikh.
• Lashing out at CEC, Imran Khan had called him a “planted agent” of the PML-N.
• ECP terms Imran Khan’s allegation “wrong and absurd".
  

ISLAMABAD: Taking notice of PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s remarks against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja and the commission, the ECP has sought a record of his speech.

In a letter written to the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), the ECP expressed its desire to obtain the complete record of the addresses of the following persons aired on April 26, 2022 on different news channels:

• Ex-PM Imran Khan’s address in Peshawar
• Khurram Sher Zaman (MPA Sindh Assembly)
• Haleem Adil Sheikh (MPA/Leader of the Opposition in Sindh Assembly)
• Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry (Senator PTI)

“You are, therefore, requested to provide a recording of the aforementioned addresses immediately for placing before the commission,” the letter read.

A day earlier, at the workers’ convention in Peshawar, the PTI chairman had lashed out at the CEC, calling him a “planted agent” of the PML-N. “Raja has lost all his credibility and he should immediately resign,” he had said.

He had also urged his supporters to start a campaign to collect signatures on an online petition against the chief election commissioner.

Read more: ECP dismisses PTI's petition to combine all foreign funding cases

The former prime minister had said that when the result of the foreign funding case would be announced there would be just one party that would emerge with legal funding and it would be PTI.

Meanwhile, recordings of PTI lawmakers Haleem Adil Sheikh, Khurram Sher Zaman and Ejaz Chauhdry during the past few days have also been sought.

The PTI has launched a campaign against the ECP in an attempt to make the expected verdict in the foreign funding case controversial that has been pending for more than seven years.

'Wrong and absurd'

Rejecting Khan’s allegation that CEC Raja was taking decisions against the party “alone”, the ECP termed it as “wrong and absurd.”

In a separate statement, the ECP said: “This is completely wrong and absurd.”

The statement came after Khan’s scathing criticism of the CEC in a speech in Lahore at the workers’ convention on April 27.

Read more: PTI protests outside ECP offices across country over 'biased attitude'

“CEC Raja doesn't have the right to serve the post, therefore, he should resign. He alone makes the decisions and all of his decisions are against the PTI," he had said.

"We demand that the foreign funding cases against all the major political parties should be heard together."

Imran had further maintained that a conspiracy was hatched to forge evidence against the PTI in the foreign funding case.

Reacting to the PTI chairman’s “unfounded” accusations, the ECP said, “the Election Commission is a constitutional body. In which all decisions are made in the light of the Constitution and law. Some people are deliberately giving the impression that decisions are being made individually in the ECP, which is wrong and contrary to facts.”

The ECP stressed that all the decisions taken from January 2020 to date, whether the Commission consisted of five members or three, all decisions were taken by consensus and there was not a single decision in which a dissenting note was given.

Moreover, it said that there is complete harmony between the CEC and the commission members.

“The ECP would continue to take decisions in the best interest of the country, under the Constitution and the law and in accordance with the oath, without any pressure.”