Apex court delivers a week’s ultimatum

Conducting elections in Punjab and Sindh within the given deadline will not be possible, says ECP official.

ISLAMABAD: The apex court has given the authorities a week to come up with a plan to hold elections in the remaining units, Islamabad, cantonment areas and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) while ruling out any more time for the Election Commission of Pakistan to conduct local bodies elections in the provinces.

In its ruling, the court warned that if the executive authorities failed to come up with a suitable plan then it would have to pass a judgment, and the consequences of the judicial verdict would be more serious in nature.

The court questioned the present governance structure of the cantonment boards and said that until a new legislation is promulgated, elections should be held under the existing law of 1924, which is still valid. The federation’s attorney told the court that the old law was not compatible with new constitutional requirements regarding meaningful devolution of powers.

However, the court held in its ruling that the decision has to be taken by the federal government within seven days, otherwise the court would be free to examine the provision of 15(e) of the 1924 Act.

Chief Justice (CJ) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry observed that so far the government could not even form a parliamentary committee under the National Assembly’s rules of business. Only a committee was established under the executive orders to deal with local government issues.

The ECP’s counsel appeared before the court and requested the court to grant the poll body reasonable time for the elections. The bench however rejected the request saying that the court will not pass any further orders. CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry noted that the commission is a constitutional body which should not be as weak an institution that it require a judicial order for its rescue.

The court ruled that elections must be held on November 27 in Sindh, whereas it set Balochistan and Punjab a deadline of December 7. The ruling also stated that the constitution must be adhered to during elections in cantonment areas.

The bench was specifically irked when the K-P attorney failed to give it a date for conducting the elections. The attorney said that the law for local bodies’ elections was pending the governor’s approval, to which the bench said that elections should be held under the old system, because at present the new law was not even enforced.

The attorney however pleaded of the court to show restraint and allow reasonable time for conducting elections. He said that elections will be held at all costs however the court must allow time for tying up all loose ends.

A top ECP official told The Express Tribune that conducting elections in Punjab and Sindh within the given deadline will not be possible. He said that while Sindh has given the poll body its deadline of November 27, the ECP will not be able to meet it since the legal procedure to scrutinise nomination papers will not be completed within that period.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 6^th, 2013.