Pak Election Commission to begin daily hearings in PTI's foreign funding case from today

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will on Tuesday begin hearing of the five-year-old foreign funding case against the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on a daily basis.

The ECP's decision to hold daily hearings was taken after the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) filed a petition against Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) for Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan in the Commission, The Express Tribune reported.

The petition accused the PTI government of pressuring the ECP in the foreign funding case against it and alleged that the SAPM's press conferences, a transcript of which had been attached with the application, were tantamount to threatening the electoral body.

It also asked the Commission to summon Awan for an explanation of her statement implying that the ECP's conduct of the foreign funding case was not above board.

The petition also named the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) as a defendant.

Speaking to reporters after submitting the application, PML-N counsel Jahangir Jadoon accused the PTI of using delaying tactics in the foreign funding case and criticised the ruling party's leaders and ministers for 'levelling allegations against the ECP in a bid to bring it under pressure to serve their party's interests'.

Meanwhile, as the scrutiny committee of the ECP is set to begin the hearings, the government claimed to have initiated an exercise to find a replacement of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) retired Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza, who is completing his tenure on December 6.

Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Azam Swati, in an exclusive talk with Dawn News, lashed out at the CEC and claimed that the government had already engaged the opposition on the nomination of a new CEC.

"Thank God, we are getting rid of (CEC) Sardar Raza," Swati said, a day after the top leaders of the PTI in its core committee meeting headed by Prime Minister Imran Khan raised questions about the CEC's impartiality amid fears that the ECP might issue an adverse verdict against it in the foreign funding case before the CEC's retirement.

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) are to also appear before the committee today.