CEC under fire for ‘polls delay’

PTI, PPP slam move to meet Alvi only after SC order

ISLAMABAD:

The PTI on Thursday demanded that Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja should be held accountable for his “criminal deviation” from the Constitution for not holding polls in the country within 90 days after the dissolution of the assemblies.

The party also lashed out at the CEC for refusing to meet President Arif Alvi earlier in August to finalise the date for the general elections, citing amendments to the Election Act, 2017.

Former premier Shehbaz Sharif dissolved the National Assembly on August 9 -- three days before the lower house of parliament was scheduled to complete its five-year tenure.

The Constitution provides that if the assembly completes its tenure, elections will be held in 60 days, but in the case of premature dissolution -- which happened on August 9 -- this period is extended till 90 days.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), instead of giving a definite date, announced that the polls would be held at the end of January 2024.

In August, the CEC refused to meet President Alvi after the latter wrote him a letter, inviting him to finalise the polls date.

Raja maintained that after the Elections Act (Amendment) Bill, 2023 was enacted into law, announcing the date for polls was the sole prerogative of the ECP.

Writing back to him, Raja declined the request, saying that the meeting would be of no use.

On Thursday, the CEC met President Alvi on the directives of the Supreme Court at the Aiwan-e-Sadr, where they both agreed that elections across the country should be held on February 8.

In a statement, PTI Central Information Secretary Raoof Hasan said the SC ordering the CEC to meet the president to decide the date of elections was a welcome move, but “not enough”.

The party sought an apology from the CEC to Alvi and the nation for “violating” the sanctity of the constitutional position of the president.

The PTI also demanded that Raja should apologise for “committing serious crimes” against the Constitution and democracy.

The statement read that during the last 18 months, the CEC had committed the “grave crime of violating the Constitution” at least four times.

It added that as the CEC, Raja “opposed” the holding of fair elections and turned the ECP into a “key instrument” of “subverting the Constitution”.

Hasan further maintained that after the resignation of the PTI MNAs, the CEC “criminally avoided” by-elections in more than 125 constituencies, depriving millions of people from their basic constitutional and democratic right of representation.

In the statement, the PTI observed that the top court Thursday’s order had “verified” the “criminal character” of the CEC.

The PPP also complained why the ECP had not met with the president earlier and only did so when ordered by the SC.

The party’s information secretary, Shazia Marri, told The Express Tribune that the ECP should have announced the elections date earlier.

She noted that every institution’s role was defined in the Constitution and the court should not have been compelled to intervene to make the ECP give a date for the polls.

Marri maintained that the ECP did not do its work and that was why the SC intervened. Nevertheless, the PPP leader, while expressing her respect for the judiciary, said that a wrong precedent had been set and it always took time to correct such measures.

“The PPP believes the ECP should’ve have announced the polls’ date as its mandate,” she said. “By announcing the date [after a court order] the ECP has eroded its powers,” she added.

The PPP information secretary welcomed the decision, but demanded that the polls schedule should be issued immediately so that the parties could start their electoral campaign. However, she noted that it should not be forgotten how some people were confidently saying that elections would be held in February right after the National Assembly was dissolved.

The PPP leader said the SC’s intervention had ended the tussle between the president and ECP, but the key issue here was that the Constitution had already been violated by not holding the polls within the 90-day constitutional limit.

PPP leader Nayyar Bukhari, while speaking to a private news channel, said unelected individuals or cabinets did not have the right to rule the country.

Bukhari highlighted that the ECP was answerable to the people and SC for not holding elections within 90 days of the dissolution of the assemblies.

Terming it a positive development, the PML-N welcomed the announcement of the elections date, saying the process to conduct the polls had begun.

PML-N Information Secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb said her party was the only one that was ready for elections.
“We are the first one to invite applications from November 1, form an election cell, manifesto committee and parliamentary boards,” she added.

PML-N leader Irfan Siddiqui, while talking to private TV channel, noted that the development would ensure stability in the country.

MQM-P’s Rabita Committee member and former federal minister Aminul Haque welcomed the decision, saying that free, fair and transparent elections were need of the hour.

He added that there was ample time available to ensure fair elections. Haque also demanded that all political parties should be provided with a level-playing field.

The Jamaat-e-Islami also welcomed the announcement of the polls date, while demanding the apex court to take action against those responsible for its delay.