Election reforms case: SC favours culture to limit polls expenses

Says the ECP has more power than the court in such cases.


Our Correspondent April 12, 2012

ISLAMABAD:


In compliance with the court’s earlier order, Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq submitted a reply of the government in response to a petition seeking to limit expenditures during elections.


The court adjourned the hearing till today (Thursday) and asked petitioner Abid Hassan Minto to conclude his arguments in today’s hearing.

The federation’s reply said that laws for this purpose already existed.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, heading a three-member bench comprising Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvez, while hearing Minto’s arguments, said election campaigning must end 48 hours before polling, as per the law and also said that alluring voters to the polling camps is violation of law.

Minto argued that excessive expenditures by political parties on public meetings and rallies during elections must be discouraged and leaders of political parties should be asked to abide by the law.

He claimed that Pakistani politics was influenced by wealthy people and even election candidates were selected on the basis of wealth.

The court observed that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is empowered to hold free and fair elections and in some cases is more powerful than the SC.

“There is a need to develop a culture in which extra expenditures are discouraged,” the chief justice observed, adding that courts cannot intervene in this matter.

Minto argued that the apex court has power to intervene in order to protect public interest and can compel the government to avoid illegal practices in the country.

Justice Chaudhry observed that it is the right of a candidate to convey his message to the public during public meetings, adding that in the US and Europe, candidates contesting elections address public meetings wherein the public ask candidates tough questions to judge their eligibility, however, in Pakistan, the trend was of electing ‘personalities’.

Minto said that state-run television and radio as well as private TV channels could play a pivotal role during the election process. The chief justice however observed that private TV channels were playing a significant role in highlighting national issues.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 12th, 2012.

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