Presiding officers get magisterial powers

Authorised to try and imprison those who disrupt polling process.

ISLAMABAD:

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) says it is leaving no stone unturned to create a peaceful environment for the historic general elections to be held freely and fairly.

The poll body on Saturday gave presiding officers the authority to exercise magisterial powers from May 10 to May 12, empowering them to imprison anyone disrupting the voting process for up to three months after a summary trial.

A senior ECP official confirmed to The Express Tribune that election laws allow presiding officers to exercise powers of a first class magistrate. They will be empowered to act against any candidate, polling agent, voter or party worker who indulge in influencing or disrupting the polling process.

The official said that the presiding officers will also have the authority to impose a heavy fine. At the same time, strict action will be initiated against those who fail to exercise their magisterial powers if the situation demands that they do.

According to Section 27 of the Representation of Peoples Act 1976, the presiding officer is supposed to halt voting at a station in case the polling process is disrupted and inform the returning officer of the incident. The officer can also stop voters from casting votes if a ballot box is unlawfully taken out of his custody, or is accidentally or intentionally destroyed, lost, damaged or tampered with to such an extent that the result of the poll at the particular station cannot be ascertained.

At the same time, the voting process cannot be resumed during the scheduled voting timing.  The ECP also directed the Sindh police chief to immediately replace the superintendent of police Thatta with a neutral officer. The commission had received several complaints that the SP was favouring Owais Muzzafar, a candidate from PS-88 (Thatta).

Khoso reiterates commitment to free elections

The caretaker federal government reiterated on Saturday that it was committed to holding the May 11 general elections on time and in a free, transparent and peaceful environment.

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Arif Nizami told journalists following a meeting of the federal caretaker cabinet that the interim administration was providing a level playing field to every political party to conduct their respective election campaigns.

However, he said that some parties who were not conducting their campaign in Punjab were doing so of their own accord.

“Let me categorically declare that holding free, fair and transparent elections is the primary responsibility of the caretaker government and it would do its best to discharge its duties as caretaker,” he quoted Premier Mir Hazar Khan Khoso as telling the cabinet.

Khoso also observed that the recent acts of terrorism were being carried out to create panic and fear among the people. He directed the intelligence and law enforcement agencies to enhance coordination and improve their intelligence-gathering techniques to thwart terrorist attacks.

He said it was the collective responsibility of all Pakistanis to defeat extremists. “I am sure if every Pakistani decides to guard his homeland, we would defeat the criminal elements who want to destabilise the country and disturb the election process.”

 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 5^th, 2013.