Reforming polls

It has become clear from the events of the past few months that we require electoral reforms in order to remove the kind of doubts that have been cast over the 2013 polling process and those that took place before this. In this regard, the recommendation by the eight-member parliamentary sub-committee on electoral reforms, headed by Minister for Science and Technology Zahid Hamid, and comprising representatives from both the government and the opposition, that the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) role and powers be expanded, is a positive one.

The sub-committee, set up after a larger panel reviewed thousands of complaints and proposals presented to it, has suggested that the ECP be granted authority over returning officers, polling staff and security personnel on duty at polling stations. Currently, under the law, the ECP can only forward complaints made against these persons to the body from which they have been deputed. This, of course, gives the key electoral body a very limited role in disciplining or taking action against staff on duty, who may be involved in mishandling any aspect of polling. We also need to consider that an autonomous, powerful ECP can play an important role in ensuring that polls in Pakistan are held in a free and fair manner. When it lacks such power, this becomes a far harder task. In India, at election time, all administrative control in matters pertaining to polls is removed from political hands and placed with the country’s election commission. This appears to be one reason why allegations of rigging rarely figure in that country despite the massive electoral exercise conducted there every five years in a situation very similar to ours, as far as social and economic aspects go. We need to learn a lesson from this and consider the proposals put forward by the electoral panel very seriously indeed. Making the ECP a strong, independent body would be the first step in building an electoral system, which is not so susceptible to allegations of wrongdoing. When these allegations come up, they throw a great deal into disarray, given that elections stand at the centre of our democratic system.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2014.

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