SC terms elections in ECP's absence 'unconstitutional'

SC says elections cannot be conducted based on old electoral lists and that the ECP should recompile them.

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday termed the by-elections held after the eighteenth amendment in the absence of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) as unconstitutional.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry observed that the polls should be validated from the parliament and released interim orders to suspend the successful candidates.

The supreme court also said that elections cannot be conducted based on the old electoral lists and that the ECP should recompile them.

Chief justice remarked that the previous lists had over 30 million bogus votes which could not be verified.

He said that the ECP should start compiling the lists of the related constituencies.

Earlier, Justice Chaudhry had ordered the ECP to wrap up the process of finalising the electoral rolls and had given a final deadline of February 23, 2012.

The apex court handed down these directions while hearing a petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan, who asked the court to remove fake votes from the electoral rolls.

The ECP was initially scheduled to complete the process by April.