PTI chairman Imran Khan on Monday issued a call for a fresh protest outside the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) office in Islamabad on Thursday (August 4) to demand Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja's resignation.

Addressing his party members at PTI's national council meeting in Islamabad, Imran said that the assemblies of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab had passed resolutions against the CEC, stating that they had lost confidence in him.

"The commission should under no circumstances conduct the next general elections," he asserted.

At the beginning of his speech, the PTI chief recalled that during his tenure, the government tried its best to introduce Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) to ensure "free and transparent elections". "But the CEC sabotaged our hard work to secure the system of rigging for two parties (PPP and PML-N)."

He said that during the recently-held Punjab by-polls, PTI's biggest concern was rigging but "despite multiple attempts, it emerged victorious".

'Government's credibility lost'

Imran also claimed that the government had lost its credibility — both nationally and internationally.

"It has fallen to an extent that the army chief has to now request for the IMF (International Monetary Fund) loan. Can you imagine?"

The ex-premier's comments referred to the reports of Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa reaching out to US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman last week for help in securing an early loan dispersal from IMF.

In his speech today, Imran said that time had exposed the reality and "incompetence" of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to the people who once thought he was a "smart man".

"It is clear now that these people never thought about the economy or the future of the country," he said. "They never came with a plan or a roadmap to stabilise it. All they wanted was an NRO (National Reconciliation Ordinance).

"Today, the economy is inching towards a default," the PTI chief continued, adding that "the people who witnessed the conspiracy [against the PTI government] and refused to do anything about it" were equally responsible for the crisis in Pakistan.