Doubts arise over polls on time
IHC’s delimitation judgments, disagreements on caretaker setups and Balochistan assembly resolution create ambiguity
PHOTO: EXPRESS
ISLAMABAD:
After the Islamabad High Court (IHC) set aside delimitations in as many as 10 districts, election authorities are in a state of perplexity, waiting for written orders from the court on petitions before they can notify schedule for the July 25th general elections.
The IHC is hearing about 120 petitions challenging new boundaries of constituencies marked by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), and has set aside delimitations of 10 districts in the last two days.
Located in all provinces of the country, these districts include Jhelum, Jhang, Toba Tek Singh, Kasur, Sheikupura, Bahawalpur in Punjab; Lower Dir and Haripur in K-P; Ghotki in Sindh; and Kharan in Balochistan.
'PILDAT terms pre-poll process 'unfair'
The court will today (Thursday) hear 31 more petitions on delimitations in 19 other districts.
President Mamnoon Hussain on May 26 notified July 25th as polling day for general elections. Under the law, the ECP has to announce schedule of polls within seven days of announcement of date. Election authorities were set to announce schedule for the July 25th general elections tomorrow (Friday), but they are now waiting for court’s written orders. The Elections Act, 2017 also stipulates election schedule must span around 57 days. If this provision is taken into consideration, the ECP is already late in notifying the schedule.
Even officials in the election commission appear to be uncertain. A top ECP official told The Express Tribune that the commission was awaiting IHC orders. Citing two scenarios, he said, “If the court sends cases back with orders to remand, it won’t take us long as it would mean re-hearing of these petitions which the ECP can conclude within days. But, if they declared delimitations null and void, it would be a big issue.”
In case the IHC declared the ECP-conducted delimitations null and void, it would mean holding the whole exercise afresh, he added. Besides, petitions in the IHC, there are many similar petitions pending in high courts.
Written court orders of the IHC have not yet been made public as there are reports that the court would ask the ECP to re-hear these cases and direct petitioners to appear before election authorities on Monday (June 4).
As per law, the ECP should complete the process of delimitation at least four months before the polls. It had notified new delimitations on May 3 — which was already less than three months before the elections day.
Besides, controversy over caretaker set-up in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), where the PTI backed out of its earlier stance on chief executives of these provinces, recent decisions of the IHC and some other developments including statements from some politicians from Balochistan where a resolution has been submitted to delay polls, have once again created ambiguity about the holding of polls as scheduled.
In his recent appearance before a Senate standing committee, the ECP secretary was worried about the security situation, and expressed apprehensions about possible attempts to sabotage the polls.
According to him, 20,000 to 25,000 candidates will be running in the polls. Besides these politicians, 0.8 million staff will be on election duty. Providing security to all these people is no less than a challenge. Election officials are particularly worried about security in Balochistan and K-P.
Other legal complications
First and foremost is pending approval of last year’s national census. An amendment was made to the Constitution to allow the ECP to carry out delimitations on the basis of provisional results of the headcount. Constitution stipulates that the ECP must carry out fresh delimitations after every population census which should be held every 10 years.
With the latest census held after a gap of almost two decades, provisional results showed varying trends in population size.
Provisional results showed higher population growth in Balochistan, K-P and Islamabad, compared with Punjab and Sindh. While Sindh’s population growth remained on a par with the national average, Punjab’s rate was much lower.
ECP, Army finalise security strategy for polls: sources
Amendment to Article 51 of the Constitution changed the quota of seats of federating units in the National Assembly and also decreased the number of seats for Punjab and allocated these to Balochistan and K-P.
Parliament made this amendment later last year at the request of the government which anticipated that final results of the population census would be notified by April this year ahead of general elections.
A newly-inserted clause reads, “Provided that for the purposes of the next general elections to be held in 2018 and bye-elections related therto, the allocation (of seats) shall be made on the basis of provisional results of the 2017 census which shall be published by the Federal Government.”
The government had put approval of the population census on the agenda of the last meeting of the Council of Common Interest held few days ago.
But due to strong apprehensions from Sindh over its results, the census could not be approved. Since the term of the incumbent government expires on May 31 (today), fate of the population census also hangs in the balance.
After the Islamabad High Court (IHC) set aside delimitations in as many as 10 districts, election authorities are in a state of perplexity, waiting for written orders from the court on petitions before they can notify schedule for the July 25th general elections.
The IHC is hearing about 120 petitions challenging new boundaries of constituencies marked by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), and has set aside delimitations of 10 districts in the last two days.
Located in all provinces of the country, these districts include Jhelum, Jhang, Toba Tek Singh, Kasur, Sheikupura, Bahawalpur in Punjab; Lower Dir and Haripur in K-P; Ghotki in Sindh; and Kharan in Balochistan.
'PILDAT terms pre-poll process 'unfair'
The court will today (Thursday) hear 31 more petitions on delimitations in 19 other districts.
President Mamnoon Hussain on May 26 notified July 25th as polling day for general elections. Under the law, the ECP has to announce schedule of polls within seven days of announcement of date. Election authorities were set to announce schedule for the July 25th general elections tomorrow (Friday), but they are now waiting for court’s written orders. The Elections Act, 2017 also stipulates election schedule must span around 57 days. If this provision is taken into consideration, the ECP is already late in notifying the schedule.
Even officials in the election commission appear to be uncertain. A top ECP official told The Express Tribune that the commission was awaiting IHC orders. Citing two scenarios, he said, “If the court sends cases back with orders to remand, it won’t take us long as it would mean re-hearing of these petitions which the ECP can conclude within days. But, if they declared delimitations null and void, it would be a big issue.”
In case the IHC declared the ECP-conducted delimitations null and void, it would mean holding the whole exercise afresh, he added. Besides, petitions in the IHC, there are many similar petitions pending in high courts.
Written court orders of the IHC have not yet been made public as there are reports that the court would ask the ECP to re-hear these cases and direct petitioners to appear before election authorities on Monday (June 4).
As per law, the ECP should complete the process of delimitation at least four months before the polls. It had notified new delimitations on May 3 — which was already less than three months before the elections day.
Besides, controversy over caretaker set-up in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), where the PTI backed out of its earlier stance on chief executives of these provinces, recent decisions of the IHC and some other developments including statements from some politicians from Balochistan where a resolution has been submitted to delay polls, have once again created ambiguity about the holding of polls as scheduled.
In his recent appearance before a Senate standing committee, the ECP secretary was worried about the security situation, and expressed apprehensions about possible attempts to sabotage the polls.
According to him, 20,000 to 25,000 candidates will be running in the polls. Besides these politicians, 0.8 million staff will be on election duty. Providing security to all these people is no less than a challenge. Election officials are particularly worried about security in Balochistan and K-P.
Other legal complications
First and foremost is pending approval of last year’s national census. An amendment was made to the Constitution to allow the ECP to carry out delimitations on the basis of provisional results of the headcount. Constitution stipulates that the ECP must carry out fresh delimitations after every population census which should be held every 10 years.
With the latest census held after a gap of almost two decades, provisional results showed varying trends in population size.
Provisional results showed higher population growth in Balochistan, K-P and Islamabad, compared with Punjab and Sindh. While Sindh’s population growth remained on a par with the national average, Punjab’s rate was much lower.
ECP, Army finalise security strategy for polls: sources
Amendment to Article 51 of the Constitution changed the quota of seats of federating units in the National Assembly and also decreased the number of seats for Punjab and allocated these to Balochistan and K-P.
Parliament made this amendment later last year at the request of the government which anticipated that final results of the population census would be notified by April this year ahead of general elections.
A newly-inserted clause reads, “Provided that for the purposes of the next general elections to be held in 2018 and bye-elections related therto, the allocation (of seats) shall be made on the basis of provisional results of the 2017 census which shall be published by the Federal Government.”
The government had put approval of the population census on the agenda of the last meeting of the Council of Common Interest held few days ago.
But due to strong apprehensions from Sindh over its results, the census could not be approved. Since the term of the incumbent government expires on May 31 (today), fate of the population census also hangs in the balance.