Grassroots governance: SC rebukes poll body for using time excuse

Except for Balochistan, no province is ready for elections: ECP.

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court (SC) rejected the statement of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday to postpone local bodies’ elections as they were ‘short on time’.

It is not the court’s task to assist the commission with ink and paper, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry remarked. The sole task of the ECP is to hold elections, then how can it claim that it has insufficient time for preparation, he asked ECP Secretary Ishtiak Ahmad Khan.

“Why you are so weak in dispensing your constitutional duties and how can the printing press dare defy the commission’s orders?” the top judge asked.

The printing press told ECP that a minimum of 30 days was required for printing of ballot papers, the secretary said. “If they’ll ask you for 130 years, then will you believe that?” the judge asked.

The bench expressed surprise as to why the ECP had not ordered the Printing Press of Pakistan to do the needful. “The constitution gives you powers and makes all executive authorities bound to obey the election commission’s orders. Then why are you reluctant to exercise them?” the chief justice remarked.



On when the provinces would hold the local bodies’ elections, the ECP secretary said, “We will only hold elections in Balochistan on December 7,” adding, “Other provinces are not ready yet and they requested the commission to delay the polls.”

But the court had ‘written statements’ submitted by the provinces saying that they were ready and now the election commission was responsible for holding elections, the chief justice pointed out.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Muneer A Malik told the court that two separate ordinances to hold local bodies’ elections in Islamabad and the cantonment areas have been placed before the prime minister. However, as the parliament is in session, the ordinance cannot be promulgated. The chief justice said the court was glad to see that democratic institutions are functioning now but asked his legal opinion on the fact the court’s orders were not implemented.

The attorney general also said that elections in the cantonment were delayed because of General Headquarters’ (GHQ) input on the related summary, which could not be received on time. But now the issue would also be resolved amicably.

Justice Jawwad S Khawaja said that it was not simply a matter of a summary’s approval by a certain quarter but the fact that even three-and-a-half years were not enough. After 2010, there is a constitutional framework in place that requires for cantonment elections to be held regularly. Defence Secretary Asif Yasin Malik is facing contempt-of-court charges due to a delay in elections in 43 cantonment areas of the country.

Malik said the ECP was facing some logistics issue but after the ‘court’s wake-up call’, everyone was vigilant. He admitted that a delay did occur but he assured the court that all the provinces were now ready for holding local bodies’ elections.

However, the ECP secretary insisted that it still needed more time even though it started preparations after the October 25, 2013 judgment.

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