On behalf of the council of advisers, Hasan Mashhud and the military secretary to the president met with the CEC on Thursday night, seeking his opinion whether he will resign if requested by the caretaker government to pave the way for reconstituting the Election Commission (EC).

The adviser did not make the visit public. He, however, informed a meeting of the advisers' council on Saturday of the CEC's negative response.

But, talking to reporters on Monday, CEC MA Aziz denied that the council of advisers or any adviser requested or called him to resign.

"How do you know that they [advisory council] made any requests to me for my resignation? If they did, I should know first," Aziz told reporters.

"Newspapers may write any things, I didn't write that in papers," he said when his attention was drawn to newspaper reports on the advisers' request for his resignation.

"There were no discussions with the advisers about my resignation. Didn't you hear what the president said? He said there was no discussion regarding my resignation.

"What Akbar Ali [an adviser to the caretaker government] said about me was his personal opinion. Everyone has their own opinion as you and I also have," the CEC said.

Two days after the CEC's denial, Hasan Mashhud yesterday said, "Both of us cannot be telling the truth."

Asked who is telling the truth, Mashhud told reporters, "I am telling you, I visited his residence. I visited his residence along with the military secretary to the president to ask him whether he would be willing to step down. To which he said a definite 'no'. I had gone there after a consensus decision of advisers and being asked by the president and chief adviser."

On receiving Aziz's negative response, the council of advisers on Saturday's meeting discussed different alternatives to make the EC effective and credible for holding a free and fair election.

A few advisers suggested making no formal request to Aziz for resignation while a few others opted for a formal approach for the sake of records.