Islamabad: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice (R) Sardar Raza Khan has said no provincial members of Election Commission (EC) will resign from his office under the pressure from any politician.

He held that if anyone has reservations on provincial members of EC then he should pursue constitutional way and resort to Supreme Judicial Council (SJC).

Sources said that an informal and brief meeting of members of EC was held here under CEC Sardar Raza Khan. The participants exchanged views on the demand by chairman PTI, PPP and PML-Q for resignations from EC provincial members and other matters.

All the members of EC said to CEC that they had not done any wrong job and no one had pointed fingers on their character. Therefore, CEC should stay firm.

Members of EC made it clear on CEC “our character is stainless; therefore, we will not resign. We are here under article 209 and will continue to play our role. If any politician has any complaint, he should approach SJC and present evidence therein. However we will not resign under any demand or pressure. Setting the tradition of tendering resignations is not a good step in any way.

They pointed out that Lawyers Forum of PTI has already filed a reference in the Supreme Judicial Council, which is the proper and competent forum for deciding such matters. Therefore, the concerned members would not take any decision about their resignations till the final decision of the Supreme Judicial Council”.

The members have also pointed out that they have been systematically ridiculed and stigmatized with false and baseless allegations of rigging about which they strongly feel to be adjudicated upon.

According to Sources, CEC held out assurance of his full cooperation to members of EC saying EC is a constitutional institution and members will not offer resign under the pressure from any political pressure.  No evidence has come so far against the members and if politicians have any evidence in this regard then Constitutional Avenue must be adopted and SJC be approached. EC is a constitutional institution and will continue to play its constitutional role, he underlined.