Sikandar Sultan Raja سکندر سلطان راجہ | |
|---|---|
| Election Commission of Pakistan | |
| Assumed office 27 January 2020 | |
| Appointed by | Arif Alvi |
| Railways Secretary of Pakistan | |
| In office November 2018 – December 2019 | |
| Appointed by | Imran Khan |
| Petroleum Secretary of Pakistan | |
| In office 18 April 2017 – 26 August 2018 | |
| Appointed by | Nawaz Sharif |
| Government of Azad Kashmir | |
| In office January 2016 – April 2017 | |
| Appointed by | Nawaz Sharif |
| Government of Gilgit-Baltistan | |
| In office April 2014 – April 2015 | |
| Appointed by | Nawaz Sharif |
| Additional Chief Secretary to the Government of Punjab | |
| In office January 2012 – May 2012 | |
| Appointed by | Shehbaz Sharif |
| Personal details | |
| Born | |
| Spouse | Rabab Sikandar |
| Children | 2 |
| Parent | Sultan Ahmed |
| Occupation | Career bureaucrat |
Sikandar Sultan Raja is a retired Pakistani civil servant who is the currentChief Election Commissioner ofPakistan since January 2020 till date.[1] He is the son-in-law of the formerPrincipal Secretary to the Prime Minister of Pakistan andChief Secretary Sindh Saeed Mehdi. As a civil servant, Raja belonged to thePakistan Administrative Service.[2][3]
Raja retired from civil service inBPS-22 grade in 2019, having worked in senior bureaucratic positions such as theRailways Secretary,Petroleum Secretary,SAFRON Secretary,Federal SecretaryAviation and Chief Secretary of bothAzad Kashmir andGilgit-Baltistan.[4]
Raja was appointed as the chief election commissioner by PresidentArif Alvi in January 2020.[5] His tenure as chief election commissioner ended in 8 January 2025, however he has continued to server the position as a caretaker, until the appointment of his successor.
Raja is also related to Amir Ali Ahmad, Chief Commissioner Islamabad, Zohaib Ranjha former SP Investigation (Lahore), Muhammad Ali former DC Faisalabad, SSP Sarfraz Virk former DPO Jhang and SP Bilal Zafar former DPO Chiniot.[citation needed] Raja is the son-in-law of Saeed Mehdi; a former top bureaucrat who served asPrincipal Secretary to PMNawaz Sharif.[citation needed] Raja's wife, Rabab Sikandar, is a serving Customs official who was promoted to the post of Chief Collector Customs in 2022.[6]
Raja was born in a village near Bhera in district Sargodha. He got his earlier education from government school Bhera after which he joinedCadet College Hasan Abdal where he completed FSc. Post high-school, he got admission toNishtar Medical College, Multan, where he studied for four years. In the final year of MBBS, he migrated toKing Edward Medical College and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Medicine. He also did LLB fromPunjab University Law College. He was then inducted into the Pakistan Administrative Service; his first post was Assistant CommissionerIslamabad in 1989.[7]
Raja has been Deputy CommissionerIslamabad and Punjab's provincial Secretary of Communications & Works (C&W), Services and General Administration (S&GAD), and Local Government before briefly serving as ACS (G) in Punjab. He has also served as Chief Secretary for the provinces of Gilgit Baltistan as well as Azad Jammu Kashmir. He remained as Director General Immigration and Passport under the administration of Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif.[8]
Raja was promoted to the rank ofFederal Secretary in 2017. He wasSecretary Petroleum from April 2017 till August 2018. In November 2018, Prime MinisterImran Khan appointed Raja as theRailways Secretary of Pakistan and Chairman Pakistan Railways.[9] He served as Railways Secretary and Chairman Pakistan Railways until December 2019.[10]
In January 2020, Imran Khan appointed him to the post ofChief Election Commissioner of Pakistan (CEC) on the recommendation ofSheikh Rasheed, and then army chief,Qamar Bajwa.[11][12][1] He is the first career bureaucrat to be appointed to the role of CEC, after a relevant amendment was made inElection Act (2017). Conventionally, this post has been held by judges of the country's superior judiciary since the passage of the1973 constitution.[13]
Sikandar Sultan Raja is alleged to have shown lack of impartiality in the election process. The Punjab Assembly on 31 July 2022 passed a resolution against him and demanded his resignation as the chief of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).[14][15]
For the first time in Pakistan's electoral history since 1985, Sikandar Sultan employed the services of the highly politicized[16] executive bureaucracy, particularly Assistant Commissioners andDeputy Commissioners, in the key electoral roles of Returning Officers (RO) and District Returning Officers (DRO).[17] These ROs and DROs are engaged in all stages of the electoral process: from screening applicants to consolidation of vote counts, and, finally, provisionally notifying winning candidates.[18] Traditionally, these posts have been occupied by the lower judiciary of the country.[19]
On 14 December 2023, JusticeAli Baqar Najafi of theLahore High Court suspended the Election Commission's decision on the petition ofPTI that questioned the apparent bias of the appointed bureaucrats.[20] However, the next day, a three-member bench of theSupreme Court of Pakistan, consisting ofQazi Faez Isa,Mansoor Ali Shah, andSardar Tariq Masood, set aside this ruling and allowed the DROs and ROs to be notified from the bureaucracy, meanwhile stopping LHC from undertaking further proceedings on the petition citing over-reach of authority.[21]
On 30 December 2023, these ROs rejected a majority of the nomination papers filed by the leadership of PTI, including those of the party's chief,Imran Khan. PTI's general secretary,Omar Ayub, termed the rejections as "pre-poll rigging".[22] The party challenged these rejections in the courts.[23] Many of these rejections were then reversed by the courts.[24][25][26]
When thegeneral elections were conducted on 8 February 2024, some of these ROs were alleged to have tampered with provisional consolidated counts (Form 47) to make PTI candidate lose seats. PTI leaders filed several appeals in courts regarding these results.[27][28][29]
In the aftermath of the 2024 elections, Raja, along with 3 of the other 4 members of the election commission, decided against giving PTI-backed independentsreserved seats in proportion to the general seats won. Instead, the commission, distributed those seats among the ruling coalition, effectively giving them asuper majority.[30] PTI challenged the decision inPeshawar High Court, terming it against the constitution of Pakistan, however the court sided with the commission.[31] Subsequently, the matter was challenged before the Supreme Court with afull-court hearing the constitutional matter. On 12 July 2024, the court returned with a 8-5 verdict, that declared the commission's decision "null and void" and "against the constitution of Pakistan". Subsequently, PTI demanded immediate resignation from Raja.[32]