No postings and transfers of civil servants will be permissible in the province without prior approval of the ECP till the publication of election results. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
Yet another marathon meeting of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has come to a conclusion that was inevitable: The Supreme Court will have to be told that its deadlines on the holding of local government elections in Sindh and Punjab cannot practically be met.
In fact, polling will not be possible this year in the two provinces. In Balochistan, on the other hand, it is still possible, the ECP believes. The commission has finalised the schedule for elections in Balochistan, which will go to the polls on December 7, as ordered.
“A civil miscellaneous application, seeking guidance and further instructions will be filed in the Supreme Court in next few days,” ECP Secretary Ishtiaq Ahmed Khan said after another marathon session was held to explore the possibility of holding election in Sindh on November 27 and Punjab on December 7, as ordered by the apex court late last month. “The court would be informed about the preparations of the provinces and other related ground realities.”
The decision was taken after Printing Corporation of Pakistan (PCP) and Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) came forward to frankly state that the huge task of printing over 500 million ballot papers and providing magnetised ink would require them at least four months for the two most populated provinces of Pakistan.
When asked whether the local government polls in Punjab and Sindh have been deferred till next year, the secretary carefully selected his words to answer, saying simply that, “We will tell the court about ground realities.”
“Punjab and Sindh have neither notified rules nor completed the process of delimitation,” the secretary said. He said that Sindh has agreed to complete the delimitation process on November 13 whereas Punjab would be completing it on November 7. “It is after delimitation we would ask NADRA to prepare electoral rolls,” he stressed to emphasise the scale of the task.
Before the Supreme Court came out with the order on October 25, it was actually the advocates-general of Punjab and Sindh that had informed the bench that their provinces were ready for the job. However, the dominant view now is that they had actually misled the court.
The decision came during yet another meeting by the ECP, the fourth in as many days.
All options were discussed, including using private printing presses to print the ballots. But this option was discarded given that it opened up the chances of the papers getting into the wrong hands. The decision to use magnatised ink in the balloting, meaning the need to procure some 4.4 million inkpads, was also stuck to.
The Secretary said that magnetized ink would be used at all stages of polling. “Though it would cost over two billion rupees, it will be done to hold the polls fairly, justly and honestly. It is the basis of the system and the cost will have to be bore in the interest of transparency”, he said and added total cost of the local government elections would be around Rs6.5 billion.
He said the ECP has issued directions for Sindh and Punjab, and the schedule for local government elections there would be announced only after they provide their notified rules and notifications of delimitation. Similarly, the local government elections in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad will also be held after prerequisites were met, he added.
Balochistan polls on Dec 7
The schedule for the polls in Balochistan was finalised by the ECP. According to the schedule, nomination papers will be received on November 7 and 8, while November 9 has been set as the date for objections against nomination papers. The scrutiny of nomination papers will take place on November 10 and 11 while appeals against acceptance or rejection of nomination papers would be filed from November 12 to November 16. The appeals will be disposed of on November 17 and 18. November 19 has been set as the date for withdrawal of candidature and the final list of the candidates will be published the same day. The polling will take place on December 7.
While announcing the election schedule, the commission also finalised a code of conduct to guard against corrupt practices. Among other things, it barred “all the executive authorities in the federation and in the provinces from using state resources in local government elections in favour of a particular candidate or a political party.”
If any person in government service misuses his official position in any manner, in order to influence the results of elections, he will be liable to be proceeded against under Section 60 of the Balochistan Local Government Act, 2010.
No postings and transfers of civil servants will be permissible in the province without prior approval of the ECP till the publication of election results.
The prime minister, governor, chief minister, speaker, deputy-speaker, members of the federal and provincial cabinets and any other public office holders are allowed to visit the area of any local council to announce any development scheme or to canvass or campaign for any candidate or political party. Deputy commissioners and district coordination officers will not perform protocol duty with these public office holders till the conclusion of electoral process. Any holder of public office found to have violated any provisions of the election laws or the instructions of the ECP will be proceeded against as mandated in law.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 1st, 2013.
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The present CEC is weak and, EC secretary Mr Ishtiaq is running the show....this is what was expected....EC has not done their home work inspite of the fact that the LG election was not held for the past 5 years although should have been held as per constitution.....it is the responsibility of EC to conduct election on time and as per constitution, but it is SC who is forced to step in to protect constitution...then get blamed for interference....why ?
interesting