Karachi’s electoral rolls: SC suggests door-to-door voter verification

Apex court reserves judgment following stiff resistance from MQM, ECP.

ISLAMABAD:

With the court poised to deliver its judgment on the verification of millions of voters in Karachi, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) have stated that the exercise is an “unworkable” one. 

During a hearing on flawed electoral rolls, the Supreme Court on Wednesday floated the idea of door-to-door verification of deeply contentious voters’ lists in Karachi – a move that it says will help address the deteriorating law and order situation of the city.

However, the bench has reserved its judgment in the case.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry maintained the verification drive could be launched with the help of the armed forces. Addressing MQM’s reservations, the chief justice said employing the army’s assistance was a lawful option.

He added the army was “in a position to book criminal elements, while the ECP will be able to rectify errors in the registration of voters.”

Justice Chaudhry added that Karachi, being the financial hub, had a direct impact on the country’s economy, and that addressing the law and order situation could solve other issues.

“I am telling you; if you can read between the lines, many other issues will be resolved by this exercise.”

The MQM and ECP, however, did not seem too comfortable with the suggestion.

After taking instructions from MQM’s leadership for about 15 minutes, the party’s counsel Farogh Naseem told the court the matter cannot be resolved by one person, and sought time to reach a consensus.  The court, however, said the issue was not a political one.

The bench was about to announce its judgment, when it was met with stiff resistance from the MQM and ECP, who said the verification campaign was not a workable option.



“We fail to understand why the ECP and MQM are opposing this move. We were expecting a positive response from all political parties. What are your apprehensions?” asked the chief justice.

But the top judge’s inquiry met with a brief “nothing” by the MQM counsel.

ECP’s lawyer Munir Piracha was more forthcoming. “The ECP is not supposed to conduct such an exercise (to nab criminal elements).”

Naseem also chipped in and questioned why Karachi was the focus of this exercise. “The situation is not good in many other parts of the country.”

He pleaded to the court to dismiss the petition, saying the ECP had already claimed to have personally verified 80% of the voters.

After the day-long hearing, the apex court decided to reserve its judgment on whether the ECP should re-launch its verification drive or not.

Nearly all political parties have voiced their concerns in the Supreme Court, saying the ECP has registered a large number of Karachi’s residents in their native towns without their prior consent. The parties maintain flawed lists amount to pre-poll rigging.

They also said 90% of the people of Karachi have not been approached by the ECP through its door-to-door campaign.

Jamaat-e-Islami’s counsel Rasheed A Razvi handed a list of 632 voters registered against a single house in Karachi.

Piracha argued that 68,000 voters could not be verified through door-to-door verification, while the identity of 0.7 million voters were not clear. ECP officials said only 0.1 million votes had been shifted from Karachi to other parts of the country.

Naseem said people who have complaints should approach the Election Commission personally, but Chief Justice Chaudhry said it was not possible for thousands and thousands of people to knock on the ECP’s door when they are too busy trying to make ends meet for their families.

He observed the “glaring complaints cannot be ignored” and that the commission was not fulfilling its constitutional duty of carrying out annual verification campaigns. “You can even carry out your verification campaign for the year 2012,” suggested the chief justice.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 29^th, 2012.