Analysis: MQM running out options to challenge Karachi delimitations

Best option for MQM is to muster public support & ECP from changing constituencies, preparing new voters list.

ISLAMABAD:

The Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) is running out of options to pre-empt the proposed delimitations in Karachi, as it shunned challenging the Supreme Court verdict on the subject and instead chose to fight it out publicly.

It was November 2011 when the Supreme Court first issued a clarion call for fresh delimitations in Karachi in an attempt to rein in the law and order situation. At that time, legal eagles of the MQM either turned a blind eye to the critical decision or simply failed to gauge its ramifications in the backdrop of approaching elections.

Even if a legal challenge had failed to reverse the order on delimitations, it would have helped generate a debate on the efficacy of holding the exercise throughout the country instead of confining it to Karachi. The rhetoric against delimitations, at best, raised questions about the mechanics of holding the exercise, and fell short of justifying the political party’s opposition to it —especially when other political parties accepted it silently.

And now it seems the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has drilled another hole in the MQM’s argument against delimitations, after claiming that the exercise to change the political boundaries of a locality falls squarely within its domain.



The commission quotes Section 10-A of the Delimitations Act 1974, which refers to the “power of the commission to make amendment, alteration or modification in the final list of constituencies”.

Section 10-A reads: “Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, the Commission may, at any time, of its own motion, make such amendments, alterations or modifications in the final list of constituencies … as it thinks necessary.” The ECP believes that it could make use of this power independently and in accordance with the principals of delimitations to make an area more governable.

The ECP’s assertion casts aside the MQM’s argument against delimitations and paves the way for the implementation of the order issued by the Supreme Court. The commission maintains that section 10-A neither talks about a census as a pre-condition, nor restricts it from selecting a place of its liking for changing constituencies.

Once the ECP undertakes this exercise, it would be hard for the MQM to stop it from moving forward because the Delimitation Act 1974 bars anyone from calling into question in any court “anything done by or under the authority of the commission”.  The consensus among other political parties is that pre-poll exercises be conducted, which are quintessential for precluding any chance of rigging.



This consensus has been apparent in the case the Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf brought before the court, calling for the removal of discrepancies from voter lists in Karachi. Except for the Muttahida Quami Movement, no other party opposed the plea. Even the PPP supported the order for a door-to-door verification of the voters for the purpose of updating the electoral list.

The best option available to the MQM at the moment is to muster public support to dissuade the ECP from changing constituencies and preparing a new voters list, but it would have to check if the time is ripe. And the best possible time for the party may be the election itself, which would show all and sundry that its ‘overwhelming mandate’ cannot be shaken, even if the political boundaries are moved.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 23^rd, 2012.