Govt plea seeks recall of SC poll order

ISLAMABAD:

The Federal Ministry of Defence has told the apex court that in view of the prevailing security situation, elections for provincial assemblies and the National Assembly should be held on the same day in October — the month when the lower house of parliament will complete its five-year term.

"Based on the assessment of the security situation by the agencies concerned, the armed forces, by early October, will be able to carry out election duty for the general elections to the National Assembly and all provincial assemblies, when held together,” said a report submitted to the Supreme Court of Pakistan by Additional Attorney General Chaudhry Amir Rehman

On Monday, top officials of the country’s two premier spy agencies – the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Military Intelligence (MI) –met with Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial and other two apex court judges who are hearing a case related to holding polls in Punjab on May 14.

Sources revealed to The Express Tribune that in the meeting that continued for three hours in the CJP’s chamber, the ISI and MI chiefs had informed the judges why it would not be possible for the army troops to provide security at Punjab Assembly elections scheduled for May 14.

They said during the briefing also attended by Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Awan, the judges also asked some questions.

A three-judge bench — led by CJP Bandial and comprising Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Ijazul Ahsan— on April 4 declared as “unconstitutional” the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to postpone election for the Punjab Assembly and ordered it to hold polls in the province on May 14.

The same bench on April 14 ordered the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to release Rs21 billion to the ECP for holding elections in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and send an “appropriate communication” to this effect to the finance ministry by Monday (April 17).

Together with the report, the defence ministry has also moved a civil miscellaneous application in the court, requesting it to recall its April 4 order. The bench may consider the matter in the open court in next 48 hours.

“The order dated 04-04-2023 be recalled with the directions that the general elections to the National and all Provincial Assemblies be held together, upon completion of the term of the National and the other two Provincial Assemblies Sindh and Balochistan,” it said.

"Due to the prevalent security situation and counter terrorist operations being carried out in the K-P and Balochistan, as well as the intelligence-based operations in Punjab and Sindh, the Armed Forces, Rangers, Frontier Constabulary, and other forces are not logistically available to be repositioned and reposted for providing election security, twice in a span of 6 months.

“Significant time is required to prepare the members of the Armed Forces for election duty, given much of the force has been actively engaged in operations, for a considerable period of time.

"The security situation in Punjab and Sindh has been stable in light of the efforts of the ongoing operations in the K-P and Balochistan, respectively. Therefore, any diversion of troops from the K-P and Balochistan will result in directly affecting the security situation in Punjab and Sindh.”

The application said the ECP requires deployment of 466,508 police personnel in order to ensure that the elections are conducted smoothly.

“However, as communicated to the ECP, only 81,050 personnel are available. Therefore, in order to bridge the shortfall, an estimated deployment of 385,485 Pakistan Army and Rangers in static mode is the need of the hour.

“Similarly, smooth elections in the K-P necessitate an estimated deployment of 142,820 Pakistan Army, Rangers and Frontier Corps troops in order to meet the shortfall of 56,495 security personnel.”

It said owing to the politically charged climate, it is expected and anticipated that the number of sensitive and highly sensitive polling stations will increase which will directly increase the number of personnel actually required on the polling day at sight.

Moreover, the police may not be in a position to avert and control any untoward event arising out of a law and order situation that can possibly erupt during the general elections," said the application.

Separately, the ECP, the finance secretary and the central bank also submitted their reports to the SC Registrar on the lack of transfer of funds to the electoral watchdog to hold the polls in Punjab.

According to sources, the reports have been sent to the top court judges in their chambers so that they may evaluate them and decide how they would proceed in the case after that.

In the report submitted by the ECP, the SC has been informed that on April 14, the top court had ordered the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and finance ministry to release Rs21 billion to the commission for holding the polls in Punjab and the K-P.

However, it added that the money had not been transferred yet. In its report, the ECP expressed serious reservations over the holding of the Punjab elections on May 14.

It further suggested in the report that it was better to hold the polls in the entire country on the same date. The ECP added that it had set the date for elections for October 8 taking into consideration the ground realities, otherwise there would be anarchy in the country.

It said the available number of police personnel for the Punjab elections was 81,050 while the requirement stood at 466,508. The commission informed the SC that police and other security agencies were engaged in anti-terrorism operations.

The ECP in its report pointed out that it was not surprising that the expenditure was higher than the elections held on a single day. It added that the expenses incurred for the elections included the movement of the security system.

The ECP report noted that holding elections in phases increased the possibility of violence as a party that lost the polls in a constituency might stir up trouble in another area in the second phase.

The ECP report maintained that the second phase also increased the chances of influencing the results. It added that conducting elections in different phases increased the chances of attacks by miscreants.

It claimed that in the 1970 elections, the winning parties were celebrating even before the results of the National Assembly seats were announced. It pointed out that the parties that lost the 1977 elections also boycotted the subsequent elections, alleging rigging.

The commission noted that both the 1970 and 1977 polls were held in phases. It maintained that elections held in phases would require a gap of six months. The report added that even if the court ordered polls in Punjab, they would only be possible to conduct after six months.

In its report submitted to the SC in line with its order, the SBP has submitted its own account detailing the reasons behind its failure in releasing the amount.

The finance ministry, through the AGP office, has also submitted its report on the matter and included the details of the federal cabinet’s decision to return the matter to the parliament.

The ministry has also informed the apex court of the assistance provided to the SBP and the relevant legal aspects related to the transfer of funds.

In their respective reports, the central bank and finance ministry informed the SC that they could not transfer the funds without the approval of the federal government.

A day earlier, the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue returned matters concerning funds for elections to the government.

Funds were allocated by the SBP in compliance with court orders, only for the matter to be sent to the federal cabinet which later placed it before the National Assembly.

On the same day, the lower house rejected the government’s motion to grant Rs21 billion to the federal government to meet the expenditure, other than charged, during the financial year ending June 30, 2023, in respect of the ECP.

It should be noted that the top court had ordered the federal government on April 4 and then the SBP and finance ministry on April 14 to transfer Rs21 billion directly to the ECP by April 17.

It had also ordered them to submit compliance reports to the court.

In the backdrop of the ongoing conflict within the SC as well as a possible clash with parliament, all eyes are on CJP Umar Ata Bandial as to how he, along with his like-minded judges, will ensure compliance with the judicial order to hold Punjab Assembly elections on May 14.