Secretary ECP Ishtiaq Ahmed Khan briefs the media about the proposed new schedule of LG polls during a news conference in Islamabad. PHOTO: APP
The Supreme Court and the Election Commission of Pakistan agreed upon a revised schedule for local government elections in Sindh and Punjab on Wednesday, resolving an issue that had threatened to embroil the parliament and the judiciary in a standoff over institutional boundaries.
A day after National Assembly unanimously passed a second resolution demanding the commission to fix a ‘practical’ date for the mammoth exercise, the apex court acknowledged practical and technical difficulties being faced by the commission.
Under the new schedule, elections will be held in Sindh on January 18 and in Punjab on January 30.
“Thus, without making any further observations, the matter stands disposed of [instantly],” observed Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry upon receiving ECP’s revised plan for the polls.
The CJP-led bench also accepted the poll body’s assurances on holding local body elections in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the Islamabad Capital Territory and cantonment areas, disposing of a case that had been pending since 2009. According to ECP’s plan, elections in K-P will be held in February, next year.
The bench noted that by assuring them that the polls would be held under the revised plan, the ECP and provincial governments had shown they were committed to the Constitution, and cited this as the reason for not making any further observations on the matter.
In its order, the bench acknowledged the difficulties highlighted by the ECP with regards to holding polls in Sindh and Punjab on the dates fixed earlier. The Supreme Court had earlier ordered the electoral body to conduct the elections by November 27 in Sindh and December 7 in Punjab, after the provinces’ respective governments had suggested the dates.
The court order noted, however, that authorities in K-P, despite knowing their constitutional obligations, had filed no request for holding local government elections so far.
Meanwhile during the proceedings, the attorney general informed the court that the federal government had requested the ECP to hold local body polls in cantonment areas. He added that the poll body, in turn, had asked the government to fulfill certain requirements which were in the process of being met.
Despite court orders to the government in this regard, no local body elections have been held in cantonment areas over the past 18 years.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 14th, 2013.
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Thanks Allah. In the meantime Mr. One-and-Half could have gone, and everyone will have sigh of relief.
The actual 'clash of institutions' that the media, especially the electronic media had been screaming about had actually just started. On the one hand we had the Supreme Court which insisted on the holding of local bodies elections on the dates set by it even though it was made aware of the practical difficulties that stood as an impediment to doing so; physical impossibility of getting enough ballot papers printed and non-availability of indelible ink apart from the law and order situation. On the other hand we had Parliament, the supreme sovereign body passing a unanimous resolution asking for the grant of time to the Provinces to be able to hold free and fair elections. It was quite obvious to everybody that the Supreme Court was being unreasonable and was making this a matter of prestige for itself. Unfortunately the Supreme Court has now had to acknowledge that it was acting unreasonably. The image of the Supreme Court, in my view, has suffered a setback. This is sad but true and is the result of the Supreme Courts's uncalled for interference in the domain of the Executive which has been going on for quite some time now. One only hopes that the Court will now get down to it's main business of handing out justice to the common man who has been totally ignored and forgotten just because his case does not make for headline news or a continuously running ticker on all TV channels.
All, not merely many problems can be solved by allowing voting by phones. The proposal has been sent to the PM. If the proposal has been lost, a further copy can be sent or published in this newspaper.