Feb 8 is ballot day

Supreme Court has ensured that general elections will be held on Feb 8

In a determined, timely and unequivocal order, the Supreme Court has ensured that general elections will be held on February 8. Now it seems no amount of pressure tactics from the bureaucracy, manipulations from vested circles or excuses from political quarters shall act as an obstacle in delaying the ballot. This was made possible as a three-member bench of the apex court under Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa suspended an undesired intervention of the Lahore High Court regarding the suspension of Election Commission’s notification on the appointment of returning officers. While the electoral watchdog in a jiff had obliged the earlier court order, the appellate judiciary coming in on Friday had changed the course of history. Well before the click of midnight, the ECP compliance was there and an electoral schedule was issued. Polls are now fait accompli.

This crisscrossed legal tangle has finally come to the rescue of public representation. At the same time, the top court has for the first time made it quite clear that lower courts, or for that matter other constitutional organs, should not poke their nose if there is a detailed and crisp order from the superior judiciary. While the Supreme Court in consultation with the Presidency had pronounced February 8 as the day of ballot for national and provincial assemblies, the LHC-ECP somersault was uncalled for and unlawful. This is what the full-throated determination of the honourable bench has reiterated in all solemnity.

Now with the electoral schedule at hand, it’s time to strictly follow the book and ensure that the people of Pakistan are provided with a free, fair and uninterrupted opportunity to choose their representatives. There should not be any jumping over the gun, and all and sundry should be able to seek recourse to ballot. The process must be free from prejudice and politics of connivance and cases under trial should not come to hamper lawful electioneering. The apex court’s categorical order has simply saved the day for democracy.