Electoral reform: ECP set to exercise full judicial powers

Commission may penalise officials who refuse to follow orders

ISLAMABAD:

In a move to strengthen the top electoral body, the parliament’s bipartisan panel on electoral reforms has decided to give the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) powers to adjudicate contempt of court proceedings against any official that fails to follow its directives.

The parliamentary committee on electoral reforms on Wednesday completed vetting of proposed changes in the Representation of Peoples Act 1976 which stipulates laws related to conducting elections in the country.

Zahid Hamid, chairman of the committee, told reporters after the panel’s in-camera meeting that they have also decided to give legal cover to the ECP’s powers to use contempt of court against any officials who fail to comply with the commission’s orders.

The ECP, though a constitutional organ, said to have powers of a high court, has always shied away from using any such powers and had been a docile institution. It had been blaming lack of clarity in laws for its submissive attitude.

Hamid, a legal wizard of the ruling PML-N, also said the panel has completed work on ROPA, however, it will accommodate the proposals of Imran Khan’s PTI during the second reading.

The PTI attended first few meetings of the committee when it started working last year. Its members were not part of the rest of the work carried out by the committee since the party had submitted its resignations to the speaker National Assembly. The PTI representatives resumed working with the committee after the party decided to go back to the lower house of parliament.

The committee comprising members from all the parties represented in parliament was formed in August 2014. It was supposed to come up within three months with a comprehensive package of reforms containing necessary changes in the Constitution and the relevant laws to revamp the stale electoral system in the country.

ECP suspends three ROs

The poll supervisory body on Wednesday suspended three returning officers (ROs) in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) for their alleged failure to perform their election duties with honesty. It is for the first time in the electoral history of the country that the ECP took such punitive action against the ROs.

Taking notice of the complaints it received by its field staff, contestants and general public, the ECP suspended executive engineer PESCO Nowshera Calan, executive engineer Sui Gas Nowshera and executive engineer PESCO Nowshera Cantt who were appointed as ROs for the constituencies falling in these areas for upcoming local government elections in the province.

Furthermore, the ECP summoned the three ROs on April 30 at election commission headquarters in Islamabad. It has also directed the parent departments of these officials to conduct departmental inquiry against these officials for their misconduct.

The LG polls in K-P are scheduled to be held on May 30.

K-P request declined

The ECP has declined the request made by the K-P government to hold the May 30 LG polls in the province under the supervision of judiciary.

The commission said it has already appointed the district returning officers and ROs from the federal and provincial government departments for the elections and it would not review it decision.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 23^rd, 2015.