It was bound to happen. Prime Minister Imran Khan’s brazen streak of bending the code of conduct for elections has finally caught up with him after a most obvious outright violation. The ECP issued the PM a notice for his participation in a public rally in Lower Dir ahead of local government elections in the area. Imran’s presence violated a prohibition on the participation of public office holders — interpreted to mean the President, PM, CMs, and federal and provincial cabinet members — in election campaigns. It is the same rule — Section 234 of the Elections Act — that landed federal minister Ali Amin Gandapur in hot water last year.
The original version of the rule effectively banned most elected officials, but the government recently softened the language in the act via an ordinance to create exceptions. This came in for severe criticism because of the unilateral nature of ordinances — no opposition parties have supported the move, and pre-2018, several current PTI cabinet members also criticised attempts by sitting cabinet members to participate in election campaigns.
Interestingly, reports suggest that at a recent ECP moot on the new election ordinance, apart from the PTI, every party — including PTI’s coalition allies — backed the ban on public office holders. This is why the ECP’s most recent rules still barred public office holders, and it is under these rules that the commission warned PM Imran and then issued him a notice. While the Attorney General for Pakistan insists that the ECP must adhere to the ordinance, several top lawyers think this is not the case, and the code of conduct takes precedent.
Whichever the case, we must note that a level-playing field means ensuring that all parties agree on the rules. The ordinance was clearly intended to benefit the PTI only. Such lawmaking is unacceptable. Otherwise, what is to stop a ruling government from enacting rules that ban the children and siblings of ex-PMs, or British-educated former World Cup winning cricketers from contesting elections? Clearly, these rules targeting Asad Junejo and Ramiz Raja would not stand.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 15th, 2022.
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