ISLAMABAD: A member of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), retired Justice Riaz Kayani, has rejected allegations levelled against him by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan and termed the charges a “set of irreconcilable lies”. Talking to Dawn, the ECP member from Punjab said it was astonishing to see a party chief levelling unfounded allegations against him in an explanation submitted to the Supreme Court during contempt proceedings against the latter.

“The allegations are now part of the record of apex court where I could not appear in any capacity to rebut them,” he said, adding that the contempt notice against the PTI chief stood withdrawn and media was the only forum where he could deny the allegations.

“These allegations are a figment of imagination of the PTI chairman’s mind, stuffed by his cronies who have their own axe to grind.”

Justice Kayani recalled that on May 11 he along with the provincial election commissioner and a superintendent of police had received a message on wireless that the gates of a polling station in ‘S’ block DHA had been closed by Rangers personnel. “We rushed to the polling station and found hundreds of voters waiting on the roads.

“The rival candidates levelled allegations against each other but their common request was to get the gates opened which I did and stood there for more than a hour to ensure that everyone cast his vote,” he added.

He advised the PTI chief to refrain from levelling baseless allegations against the ECP and its members.

In his explanation submitted to the court, Mr Khan had alleged that on the day of the general elections Justice Kayani had acted more like a representative of the PML-N than a member of the commission.