ECP questions poll method for FATA

Some NA members from Fata moved the Islamabad High Court and Supreme Court against the order

ISLAMABAD: The controversy over the presidential order, which has changed the procedure for election of the tribal areas’ senators, has further deepened as the poll authorities have reacted sharply, conveying to the government in unambiguous terms that polls were not possible with the government’s proposed method.

The last-minute presidential decree, issued hours before Thursday’s Senate elections, created a controversy that led to postponement of polls four seats from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has now issued a formal notification stating that changes made by the government through the decree were ambiguous and conflicting with the prevailing laws.

“Whereas, Articles 2, 3 and 4 of the order are utterly ambiguous, self-contradictory and derogatory to the law under which the schedule was announced,” said the official notification issued by the ECP.

The notification has come at a crucial time when both the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) are looking for every single vote for their contest over offices of chairman and deputy chairman Senate on March 12.

The ECP has further stated that the polls will not be held unless the anomalies are settled, which gives an indication that it will be difficult to hold polls anytime sooner than March 12.

Some National Assembly members from Fata, who were to cast their vote to elect senators from their area, had moved the Islamabad High Court and Supreme Court against the order.

Now, the government would either have to take back its order or make thorough amendments in its order to make it in conformity with the relevant election laws.

The returning officer, who was supervising polls for Fata senators, had adjourned the polling process soon after it received the order.

The government through presidential order has limited the right of vote of Fata MNAs to one vote. The decree (Election of Members from Federally Administered Tribal Areas Order, 2015) says that the step was taken to check selling of votes. However, legal experts question the timing of changes which were done a few hours before the polling was scheduled.

The ECP’s formal reaction to the government’s move would add to worries of the ruling PML-N which is striving to muster support of other parties and independents to secure the offices of chairman and deputy in Senate.

Election for these two offices will be held on March 12 on the first day of the new parliamentary year of Senate. Newly elected members will first take oath of their offices and then vote for chairman and deputy chairman of the upper house the same day.

One of the PML-N elected members from Islamabad, Rahila Magsi is unlikely to take oath on March 12 since high court had given her conditional permission to contest the polls but barred the ECP from issuing notification of her success till the petition challenging her candidature is decided.

Given the likely informal alliances on opposition and treasury benches, an interesting contest is expected between PPP and PML-N for the coveted office to sit in the driving seat in the upper house of parliament for the next three years.

In the number game, once again role of five members of Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s JUI-F and five independents in the Senate will be crucial for any side to secure victory in the hung Senate.

Premier praises

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that with the holding of Senate elections another phase of democratic process has been accomplished.

The present government believed in strengthening and ensuring the sanctity of the democratic institutions, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 7^th, 2015.