Vacant NA seats can’t delay presidential poll

Experts say Dr Alvi should summon session instead of waiting for allocation of reserved seats

ISLAMABAD:

Amid reports that President Dr Arif Alvi wants the reserved seats allocated before summoning the inaugural session of the National Assembly, experts said on Sunday that the lack of completion of the electoral college in the lower house of parliament would not affect the constitutionality of the election for the head of the state so he should not delay the process.

Nevertheless, the outgoing president appears to have once again deliberately refrained himself from signing a summary seeking the summoning of the NA session, inviting criticism from not just the political parties but experts as well that Dr Alvi has been repeating something that has been a blot on his stay in the office: delaying the approval of his opponents’ summaries.

“Even if a large number of seats are vacant in each legislature, the assembly is intact,” said Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat) President Ahmed Bilal Mehboob.

“It will not impact the constitutionality of the president’s election.”

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is reportedly gearing up to hold the election for the office of the president by March 9 -- two days before the retirement of half of the senators after completing their six-year term.

In fact, the Pildat chief said Article 41(4) of the Constitution referred to postponing the presidential election only if the NA was dissolved.

“It doesn’t even refer to the provincial assemblies.”

Arguing that narrow technicalities should be dispensed with, Mehboob was of the view that the ECP should resolve the issue of the pending reserved seats by allotting them to the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) and if not, they should be distributed among other political parties.

Renowned constitutional expert Hafiz Ehsaan Ahmad Khokhar also observed that vacant seats in the NA would not affect the schedule of the presidential election.

“It is not for him [the president] to be involved [in the matter of the reserved seats] as the ECP acts independently,” he explained.
The expert elaborated that the president was constitutionally bound to summon the NA session under Article 91(2) of the Constitution within 21 days from the day of holding the general elections.

“He [the president] cannot withhold the summary; cannot keep it pending and cannot return it as well as the advice of the [interim] prime minister as he is bound under Article 48 and 91 of the Constitution [to act on it],” Khokhar said.

“The president cannot stop the holding of the NA session for the formation of a new government.”

Referring to Article 91(2) of the Constitution, Khokhar said the president could not deviate from this constitutional provision and its command obligations.

“This extraordinary ordinary session is not dependent upon the discretion of the president or the prime minister.”

According to the expert, the president is bound as per Article 48(1) of the Constitution to act on the advice of the caretaker prime minister, and he has no legal option to deviate or keep the matter pending as it has to be carried out within 21 days of the general polls as per Article 91.

As for returning the summary, Khokhar said the president had some flexible mandate for legislation under Article 75 of the Constitution but not at all under Article 91 in the present scenario on any other pretext.

“If the president refuses, then the NA secretary can be asked under the rules for summoning the session. This provides the NA secretary [the authority] to issue a gazette notification. In the present situation, the NA secretary can initiate the summoning process of the session under Article 91(2) of the Constitution,” he explained.

The expert noted that the longest-serving president could have ended his innings at a positive note as he could not stop the process in any case.

Instead, Khokhar added that Dr Alvi decided to repeat what he had been famous for: delaying the signing of the summaries of those belonging to his opponents’ camp.