Imran accuses CEC of being biased, seeks early polls under impartial electoral body

Tariq Butt, Correspondent

Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has accused the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of being biased and asked the Supreme Court to take action against “horse-trading.”

“What example are we setting for our coming generations that public representatives were sold like goats and sheep,” Imran said in an interview with a TV channel.

He criticised the decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to reject the petitions filed by the PTI for the disqualification of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Yousaf Raza Gilani and his son MPA Ali Haider over allegations of electoral misconduct.

“The ECP did not take any action against Gilani and we don’t have high expectations that it would do anything fair,” he remarked. Imran said he believed if the apex court did not take action against ‘horse-trading’ then it would put the country’s future at stake.

Last week, CEC Sikandar Sultan Raja had said that facts about the Gilani case were not presented properly. He highlighted that the case was heard 20 times and adjourned 12 times.

The ECP ruled that there was no direct evidence against the senator. However, it ordered the district election commissioner to register a case of corrupt practices (Section 167) and bribery (Section 168) under Elections Act, 2017, against his son Ali Haider Gilani, along with PTI MPs Captain (retd) Jamil Ahmed and Fahim Khan.

Imran further said that PTI didn’t have confidence in the incumbent CEC and his party’s only demand was that early elections should be held under an impartial electoral body. He said those who scoffed at his government of being “selected and incompetent” were running away from elections.