Disenfranchising women: ECP proposes law against covert election deals

Seeks powers to annul polls in any constituency where women are barred from voting

ISLAMABAD:

In a bid to clamp down on the practice of cutting covert deals and convening Jirgas to disenfranchise women, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has sought legal powers to annul polls in any constituency where women are barred from voting.

In its new set of proposed laws – tagged as unified election laws – submitted with the parliamentary committee on electoral reforms, the ECP suggested the parliament enhance the scope of legal provisions pertaining to ‘undue influence on elections’ to include such covert deals. The proposed legislation will empower the ECP to cancel poll results in any constituency – either partially or completely – after a summary trial.

“If, from facts apparent on the face of the record and after such summary inquiry as it may deem necessary, the [Election] Commission is satisfied that by reason of grave illegalities or violation of the provisions of this Act or the rules; or that an agreement … has been entered into restraining women from exercising their right to vote, the poll in that constituency ought to be declared void as a whole or a part thereof … [and the ECP may] call upon the electors of that constituency to elect a member of the assembly in the manner provided  for in Section 87 or… order re-poll at the polling station or polling stations of the area of which the election has been declared void,” reads the text of relevant provision in the proposed new set of laws.

The ECP has also proposed criminal cases against any individuals involved in any deal to disenfranchise women during elections. “The Commission may order filing of complaint… before a court of competent jurisdiction against persons who entered into such agreement,” the proposed amendment reads.

Several proposals to curb incidents of women being barred from voting – either because of a covert deal among local politicians and contesting candidates or because of a decision by a tribal Jirga – have been considered over the years.

One early proposal recommended a re-poll in any constituency where the number of votes cast by women was found to be less than 10% of the area’s population. This proposal was rejected by a similar parliamentary panel during the Pakistan People Party government.

The recent proposals, although vague and harder to adjudicate compared to the one put forward under the PPP government, can still serve as a deterrent against gross violation of women’s basic rights. It is not clear yet if the parliamentary committee will accept the new proposal. Once it completes its work, it will present the draft to parliament for final approval.

The committee, which was set up after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s wrote a letter to National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq in June this year, started work on August 6.

It was supposed to complete its task within three months, but after the passage of nearly two months, it is still at the initial stages of its work. The panel is unlikely to complete its task within the given timeframe.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 6^th, 2014.