PTI demands invoking Article 6 against CEC Sikandar Sultan Raja

Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Omar Ayub Khan has come down the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), underscoring the call for invoking Article 6 against the ones who misinterpreted the Constitution as the poll conducting authority deprived the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of its iconic election symbol — bat.

Ayub's remarks come after the Supreme Court's full bench announced earlier today its reserved verdict with an 8-5 majority, granting the PTI the entitlement to the seats reserved for women and minorities on pleas of the PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) which were earlier rejected by the poll conducting authority. 

The apex court nullified the Peshawar High Court's (PHC) order wherein it had upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) decision denying the reserved seats to the PTI-backed SIC.

"I congratulate the entire Pakistan on this auspicious day and the entire legal team," said Ayub — the PTI general-secretary — hailing the top court's ruling while addressing a press conference flanked by other party leaders, including the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Shibli Faraz, party chairman Gohar Ali Khan and legal wizard Salman Akram Raja on Friday.

"The PTI founder had said that it is essential to have the supremacy of the law and the Constitution, ethics and justice in the state."

The NA's opposition leader stressed Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja and four other members of the poll watchdog should resign from their offices immediately, saying the CEC and other ECP members divested the party of its election symbol. 

With this move, they ended up interfering with the party's electioneering, he added.

Ayub continued, "The ECP wrongly interpreted the law and the Constitution in line with their vested interests," underlining the need that no one should dare to humiliate the public mandate.