Presiding officer’s powers extended for next polls: ECP
Will have power to jail troublemakers for three months after summary trial.
ISLAMABAD:
To ensure peaceful polling during the next general elections, presiding officers will be empowered to jail anyone disrupting free and fair polling process for three months after a summary trial, according to a senior official of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
Under elections laws, each presiding officer will exercise the powers of a first class magistrate for the summary trial of such troublemakers – including candidates, polling agents, voters and political supporters. The officers will also be empowered to impose a heavy fine on such agitators.
If contesting candidates are found to be involved in any activity that may hinder the polling process, they will be disqualified.
Police and other law enforcers are to be appointed to each polling station and will be bound to extend any assistance to the presiding officer for the summary trail of such lawbreakers. Disciplinary action will also be initiated against any law enforcer who fails to provide such assistance.
Political parties and candidates will also be bound, under the code of conduct, to extend any cooperation sought by officials conducting the polling.
In a related development, the ECP has invited all political parties on Dec 20 to finalise the code of conduct. Conduct guidelines will also be chalked out for electronic and print media after consultations with all stakeholders.
Meanwhile, the ECP has also decided to appoint special security district committees comprising divisional coordination officers, district magistrates, and senior police officers and election officers in, Balochistan, Karachi, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and other sensitive districts. The committees will make decisions over the deployment of Rangers and army troops at polling stations.
The ECP will make arrangements for such personnel on the recommendations of the committees, which are to meet soon after the announcement of the election schedule.
“Army officers and Rangers are well-versed in how they should help election officers at the polling station,” the ECP official said when asked whether the personnel appointed at the polling stations would be given some special training. “They do not need any training as they are already trained in the enforcement of law,” he added.
The decision by the ECP to punish those who disrupt the polling process by conducting a summary trial came in the wake of the Waheeda Shah case. Shah, a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) candidate who was contesting by-polls in Sindh this March, was found guilty of slapping an ECP junior official.
The incident would never have happened had presiding officers exercised first class magistrate powers in the past, the ECP official explained.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 17th, 2012.
To ensure peaceful polling during the next general elections, presiding officers will be empowered to jail anyone disrupting free and fair polling process for three months after a summary trial, according to a senior official of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
Under elections laws, each presiding officer will exercise the powers of a first class magistrate for the summary trial of such troublemakers – including candidates, polling agents, voters and political supporters. The officers will also be empowered to impose a heavy fine on such agitators.
If contesting candidates are found to be involved in any activity that may hinder the polling process, they will be disqualified.
Police and other law enforcers are to be appointed to each polling station and will be bound to extend any assistance to the presiding officer for the summary trail of such lawbreakers. Disciplinary action will also be initiated against any law enforcer who fails to provide such assistance.
Political parties and candidates will also be bound, under the code of conduct, to extend any cooperation sought by officials conducting the polling.
In a related development, the ECP has invited all political parties on Dec 20 to finalise the code of conduct. Conduct guidelines will also be chalked out for electronic and print media after consultations with all stakeholders.
Meanwhile, the ECP has also decided to appoint special security district committees comprising divisional coordination officers, district magistrates, and senior police officers and election officers in, Balochistan, Karachi, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and other sensitive districts. The committees will make decisions over the deployment of Rangers and army troops at polling stations.
The ECP will make arrangements for such personnel on the recommendations of the committees, which are to meet soon after the announcement of the election schedule.
“Army officers and Rangers are well-versed in how they should help election officers at the polling station,” the ECP official said when asked whether the personnel appointed at the polling stations would be given some special training. “They do not need any training as they are already trained in the enforcement of law,” he added.
The decision by the ECP to punish those who disrupt the polling process by conducting a summary trial came in the wake of the Waheeda Shah case. Shah, a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) candidate who was contesting by-polls in Sindh this March, was found guilty of slapping an ECP junior official.
The incident would never have happened had presiding officers exercised first class magistrate powers in the past, the ECP official explained.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 17th, 2012.