Caretaker Punjab CM violates election code

Caretaker Punjab Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Saturday allegedly violated the election code of conduct by attending the groundbreaking ceremony of Bab-e-Pakistan as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) rules barred a caretaker set-up from performing such acts.

The Election Act 2017 unequivocally restricts a caretaker set-up to only run everyday affairs of the incumbent government as well as assist the ECP.

Article 230 C of the Election Act 2017 stated that a caretaker government would restrict itself to activities that were of routine, non-controversial and urgent, in the public interest and reversible by the future government elected after the elections.

Information Secretary Ali Nawaz Malik while talking to The Express Tribune maintained that the Bab-e-Pakistan project fell under Central Business District and was a provincial project “by all means”.

Asked how the caretaker government could hold a foundation stone-laying ceremony of the projects when it was prohibited in the act, Malik denied that it was a foundation stone-laying ceremony.

When told that the PM Office had termed it a ceremony held for Walton Road upgradation project and Bab-e-Pakistan foundation stone-laying project, the information secretary maintained that it was not a new plan but a “very old one”.

It was just a continuation of an already launched project and such ceremonies were in the purview of the caretaker government, Malik said.

Interestingly, Punjab Advocate General Ahmad Awais noted that the ceremony of Bab-e-Pakistan was a “sheer violation” of the election act and was unconstitutional.

He said the matter would eventually land in court, adding that there was no room for a caretaker set-up to get involved in such events.

The Punjab caretaker set-up, apparently, had been trying to prolong its tenure by declaring that the current law and order situation was not conducive for elections and had been seeking more time for the purpose, visibly towing the line of the federal government which also wanted to delay the polls, despite constitutional limitations.

Interestingly, the one main job of the caretaker set-up, as per the law, was to assist the ECP in holding free and fair elections.

Former caretaker chief minister Hasan Askari told The Express Tribune that the Bab-e-Pakistan project was initiated by ex-CM Ghulam Haider Wayn but noted that the “caretaker government in Punjab did not have the power to work on projects bearing financial implications”.

Askari termed Saturday’s inauguration event an “illegal act if it is a provincial project”.

He said it was a violation of the ECP act, adding that the election supervisor could take cognisance of the matter.

“But upon analysing their (ECP’s) recent decisions, one can assume they would continue to turn a blind eye [to the matter].”

He said any party could formally lodge a complaint with the ECP over the matter.