ISLAMABAD: Pakistani political and legal experts on Sunday said the announcement by ex-prime minister Imran Khan’s party of a reference against the chief election commissioner (CEC), which seeks his removal over alleged misconduct, was aimed at delaying a verdict in the prohibited funding case against the party.

Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on Saturday said a legal team was preparing the reference to be filed in the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) against CEC Sikandar Sultan Raja, while the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial assemblies, where the party is in power, would also adopt resolutions against the election commission chief.

The announcement came a day after a delegation of the ruling coalition met with Raja at his office and urged him to issue the verdict in the PTI foreign funding case that was reserved on June 21. A PTI founding member Akbar S. Babar had filed the case against the party in 2014, alleging that it received foreign funds for election campaigns that was prohibited under the Pakistani laws.

While Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, a Khan aide, said the meeting between members of the ruling coalition and the CEC was against “all norms of his code of conduct,” political and legal experts believed the PTI's decision to file the reference was a delaying tactic. 

“The PTI has been trying for the past some time to bring the chief election commissioner under pressure and there is a reason for it,” Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, president of the Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT), told Arab News.

“They want to get the judgment on the funding case as delayed as possible.”

Mehboob said the PTI would demand a delay in the release of the foreign funding case judgment until a verdict is announced on the reference against the chief election commissioner. “The foundation of the case apparently seems to be weak, but it would be up to the Supreme Judicial Council [whether] to take it up,” he added.

In Pakistan, a chief election commissioner is appointed for a term of three years and can be removed only through the Supreme Judicial Council, which comprises the chief justice of Pakistan, two next senior-most judges of the Supreme Court, and two senior-most chief justices of any of the high courts.

The chief election commissioner can be removed from his office only if the Supreme Judicial Council finds him guilty of misconduct.

Advocate Abid Saqi, a former vice-chairman of the Supreme Court Bar Association, said it was the prerogative of the chief justice to convene a meeting of the council to adjudicate on the reference.

“First of all, the council will see how strong are the grounds for the reference against the chief election commissioner and if it is based on solid evidence, then further proceedings can take place to decide on it,” he told Arab News.

Saqi said the Supreme Judicial Council was not bound under any law to take up a reference, so the matter might as well remain pending for years.

“The PTI is trying to use the reference as a technique to delay the judgment in the funding case, so let’s see if they succeed in it,” he added.

Barrister Ahmed Pansota said the PTI was using a legal remedy to get the chief election commissioner removed, but it was not an easy thing to do.

“The Supreme Judicial Council holds in-camera proceedings on references and it is the council’s sole prerogative to take up a reference for adjudication or keep it pending in files,” Pansota said.

“The PTI is playing politics [on the issue], so let’s see how solid is going to be their reference. The party will have to establish partiality and misconduct of the election commissioner through conclusive evidence.”