Observer Report Islamabad
The Supreme Court dismissed on Wednesday a petition challenging the appointment of Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja as it upheld the objections raised by the registrar’s office on the plea.
The two-member bench, headed by acting Chief Justice Ata Bandial heard the case. Justice Bandial said the incumbent chief of the Election Commission of Pakistan was a retired civil servant and that there were no solid grounds provided in the plea for his dismissal.
The court asked if any serving judge was a part of the ECP. At this, the petitioner said that there were no serving judges in the ECP. Justice Bandial responded that then there was no need to pursue this matter.
According to the top court, the appointment of ECP members, including the election commissioner, was based on merit and competency.
Last week, Advocate Ali Azeem Afridi moved the petition against the appointment of the current CEC, Sikander Sultan Raja.
He had approached the Supreme Court after the Peshawar High Court dismissed his similar petition last year in September.
He assailed a constitutional amendment that allowed the appointment of a retired senior civil servant or a technocrat as the chief election commissioner of Pakistan.
He requested the court to declare the incumbent CEC’s appointment unconstitutional.
