Defiant commission: SC by-poll freeze ‘against Constitution’

ECP gets support of political parties; SC says move is constitutional.

ISLAMABAD:

Yet another constitutional dispute involving the Supreme Court lingers ominously.

While the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has begun seeking support from political parties terming the apex court’s bar on holding by-polls a ‘violation of the Constitution’, the Supreme Court promptly rebutted the ECP’s remarks and stated that the move was taken keeping in view the “wide-scale discrepancies in the existing electoral rolls” and was in line with existing laws.

Saying it would be unable to meet the Supreme Court deadline of February 23, the ECP on Monday sought support from various political parties to convince the top judiciary that it should be given time till the end of May to finalise what it claims would be error-free new computerised electoral rolls.

The ECP is aggrieved over decisions taken by the SC while hearing a case pertaining to electoral rolls last Thursday. The apex court had given the ECP till February 23 to complete the process of producing new electoral rolls – a deadline that the ECP termed “over-ambitious” – and then barred the ECP from holding any by-elections until they had completed this exercise.

The ECP convened a consultative meeting with political parties and civil society on Monday where it reiterated the fact that complying with the proposed deadline would compromise the authenticity of the electoral rolls.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Judge (retd) Hamid Ali Mirza also told the meeting that the decision to put by-polls on hold till the preparation of error-free electoral rolls was a clear “violation of the Constitution” since it was a constitutional requirement to hold by-elections within 60 days of a temporary vacancy being created.

“It is not humanly possible to follow the February 23 deadline set by the Supreme Court for finalisation of the electoral rolls,” said Miza.

“If any other institution of the state is to hold elections then the right course is to make an amendment to the Constitution, or it would be a violation of the Constitution,” stated the defiant CEC.

Mirza said that, under the Electoral Rolls Act 1974, it was solely the responsibility of the ECP to prepare the electoral rolls.

“We will prepare the electoral rolls as we deem fit,” he asserted. He warned that if the SC orders were forced upon the ECP and an inaccurate electoral roll was prepared on an urgent basis, the responsibility would not lie with the ECP.

“Any attempt by any organ of the state to disturb the balance of powers would lead to anarchy in the country”, he warned. The CEC stressed that the constitutional status of the ECP must be respected by all other institutions, as any attempt by any quarter to encroach upon the functions entrusted upon the ECP would not only be a violation of the Constitution, but also a negation of the concept of an independent election commission.

Meanwhile, National Database Registration Authority’s (NADRA) chairman told the consultative session that preparation of the final electoral rolls would not be possible before May 25 – and that, too, in ideal conditions.

He said it was a gigantic task and unlike the estimated 4 million entries, now 14 million entries were to be made.

Conculsion

After presenting the arguments, the ECP was was able to win support of around a dozen political parties in and outside Parliament as well as civil society.

All the political parties except the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) were convinced the ECP’s proposition warning against a compromise on accuracy to save a few months.

It was decided that the minutes of the meeting could be sent to the apex court to persuade it to change the “unrealistic” deadline.

SC stern reaction 

Reacting promptly against the CEC’s assertive remarks and defiance, the SC maintained its stance that it had barred the commission from holding by-polls due to wide-scale discrepancies in the existing electoral rolls.

The registrar of the Supreme Court issued a clarification on Monday evening saying that ultimate focus should be on verified/valid electoral list in order to meet the requirement of the Constitution under Article 218 (3) which stipulates that the election should be conducted honestly, fairly and justly in accordance with law.

The court – taking notice of the remarks of the CEC – gave out a clear response —election on the basis of “polluted/unverified” voter lists cannot be termed just, fair and in accordance with the law, as required under Article 218(3) of the Constitution.

The court order read: “It has been informed that the ECP has announced by-elections in some of the constituencies on the basis of prevailing/uncorrected/un-amended electoral lists ... However, the date of 23rd February, 2012 has been fixed. Therefore we direct the ECP and NADRA to not hold by-elections against the casual vacancies on the basis of polluted voter lists, having 37,185,998 unverified voters as the elections of these constituencies are necessary to be held under the Constitution. The demand of the Constitution can only be fulfilled if there is a verified voters list free from any bogus votes.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th, 2012.