Disputed lists: No ballot papers for Karachi’s 11 constituencies until April 21

SHC bench says printing stopped to save public money.

KARACHI:

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) cannot print ballot papers for 11 constituencies of Karachi until April 21.

On Monday, the Sindh High Court (SHC) told the ECP to refrain from printing the ballot papers for only those constituencies that were challenged by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) after the commission carried out fresh delimitation within them.

“We may once again reiterate that this has been merely to save the public money and without prejudice to the rights and contentions of the various parties, which are or may be involved in the matter,” clarified the division bench. It disposed of the party’s earlier plea against the printing of voter lists in these constituencies.

On March 22, the ECP issued a notification to redraw the constituencies of three National Assembly and eight Sindh Assembly constituencies in Karachi - NA-239, NA-250, NA-254, PS-89, PS-112, PS-113, PS-114, PS-115, PS-116, PS-118 and PS-124. The ECP’s decision was challenged by the MQM through a petition on which the Sindh High Court had reserved its verdict on April 8.

Before the court announced its judgment, MQM’s Barrister Farogh Naseem went to court again on April 11 to complain the voter lists in these constituencies have already been sent for printing. While the court had reserved its order on the redrawn constituencies, Naseem pointed out that the ECP had reportedly sent new voter lists for printing even though it had already announced the final electoral rolls for Karachi on March 17.

“Therefore, any change in the voter lists after the start of the election process is void,” he argued. “If these lists are sent for printing, it amounts to influencing this case since the election commission should have refrained from taking any steps.” Barrister Naseem pleaded the court to restrain the commission from printing the electoral rolls by granting a stay order.



On Monday, Abdullah Hanjrah, the law officer for provincial election commissioner appearing on court’s notice, told that the electoral rolls in respect of all the constituencies had already been printed. However, the printing of the ballot papers is scheduled to begin after April 18 and may take time. Hanjrah added that such printing may continue beyond April 22.

Hearing Hanjrah’s response, the bench - headed by Justice Maqbool Baqar - said that since the ballot papers can be printed beyond April 22 without causing any inconvenience or delays, the printing of ballot papers for the 11 constituencies should not take place until April 21. Disposing of the plea, the bench clarified that this decision was taken to save public money.

Naushero Feroze

Meanwhile, the same bench issued notices to the chief election commissioner and all the members of the ECP on a plea, seeking contempt proceedings. The petitioner, Mureed Ali Shah, who is an independent candidate intending on contesting the general elections from the district, complained that the commission failed to redraw two National Assembly and five Sindh Assembly constituencies of district Naushero Feroze, despite repeated orders by the court.

Shah said that on March 2, the ECP officials had assured the court of forming a committee to decide the issue of delimitation in the district by calling and reviewing proposals submitted by all political stakeholders and the public.

“While the ECP has redrawn 422 electoral constituencies across the country and issued notification to delimit 11 constituencies in Karachi, they have deliberately avoided a notice for district Naushero Feroze,” Shah claimed, pleading the court initiate contempt proceedings against them.

The bench issued notice to the ECP, the census commissioner and others for April 22. The notice was, however, waived by ECP’s law officer Abdullah Hanjrah in court and he assured that comments will be filed by April 22.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 16^th, 2013.