Chairman Executive Committee Pakistan Bar Council Hassan Raza Pasha said on Tuesday that the statement expressing distrust over Chief Election Commissioner Sikander Sultan Raja was not an attempt to delay elections and had not been done at the behest of any party.

Speaking in Faisla Aap Ka on Aaj News, Hassan Raza Pasha said that the lawyers body was firm on February 8 as the date for elections and was standing behind the Supreme Court on the matter.

He added that if the SC had not intervened the ECP would have passed the 54 day period and the elections would have been delayed.

Pasha added that the lawyers were now demanding transparency as fingers had been raised on the previous elections.

He said that the cycle of complaints over elections meant that no government would be stable and the atmosphere of confrontation remains. He added that elections remain controversial right until the end of the five-year term.

Pasha said that while the time of elections was important, transparency was equally important so no one would be complain later.

He strongly denied the impression that the PBC had been used by any political party in the statement issued against the CEC.

Pasha said that the constituencies mentioned in the statements had been examples and the PBC wanted to make sure that more such matters would not cast doubt over elections.

He added that if the CEC stepped aside, Article 217 could be involked to make the seniormost member the new CEC as there was no prime minister or opposition leader.

Pasha said that the statement was akin to ‘whistle blowing’ and lawyers were watching the ECP’s proceedings. He added that lawyers did not want any unrest.

Athar Kazmi said that the ECP was the same one which had been unable to hold elections in KP and Punjab. He questioned why the PBC had not issued statements at that time.

Pasha replied that at that time petitions were being heard in two high courts and a new case had been taken up by the SC under Article 184. He said that lawyers bodies has reservations over how the matter had proceeded at the time.

Senator Afnan Ullah Khan said that the PMLN also had reservations over many delimitations and petitions had also been filed in multiple instances. He added that the party would accept the ECP’s deciswion in the matter.

However, he said that delimitations had been finalised a long time ago and questioned why they had no one had taken an exception to them before.

He added that a senior member could replace the CEC but people might find issues with him later on as well. He went on to say that replacing the CEC at this time did not seem like a good idea.

Khan said that he hoped things would not go to the extnet of a new lawyers movement as the country was heading towards an election.

He added that the PLMN did not want elections to be postponed by even one minute.

Kazmi said that only organising elections on a fixed date was not an issue and transparency demanded that the right atmosphere be built for the polls.

He said that complaints over the election were being levelled by party but had now been validated by the bar council.

Afnan Ullah Khan said that people implicated in cases could not be allowed to contest elections but everyone else should be allowed to campaign.