SC bench says poll delay reasons are flimsy

Asks election commission to submit empirical data to justify each day of delay

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court on Thursday voiced its dissatisfaction over the arguments presented before the election supervisory body on why local government  polls should be delayed in Punjab and Sindh.

The three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice-designate Jawwad S Khawaja, has sought concrete empirical data to justify each day that the election is delayed by in the two provinces.

On Wednesday, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) proposed fresh election dates for holding the LG polls simultaneously in Punjab and Sindh on November 14, 29 and December 19 in three stages instead of the earlier scheduled date of September 26.

The ECP had outlined five main reasons for the delay in holding the polls in three phases. Those include: floods in Sindh and Punjab; shortage of resources and manpower; law and order situation; Hajj and Muharram considerations in September and October; and lastly the lessons learned from the LG polls in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) where holding elections in several districts in a day had proven to be extremely difficult.

The bench, while considering the ECP proposed schedule, observed: “Unfortunately, we [SC] are not able to see any empirical justification rather a general and non-specific basis have been mentioned that too in the form of media reports and predictions of rains for seeking delay in the local government elections,” adding, “This is not satisfactory.”

The bench in its order again highlighted the constitutional obligation of the provincial governments to hold the elections at the lowest tiers under Article 140A of the Constitution and said it is a matter of the greatest regret that for the past six years no local government elections had been held in the two provinces.

The court also recalled that the LG polls had already been held in the provinces of Balochistan and K-P – even in the cantonment boards. Similar elections could not be held in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) on the scheduled date of July 25 due to the absence of proper legislation. But since the law is in place while the elections rules are being formulated there is very likelihood that the elections will be held in the ICT on August 28, the court added.

The bench later postponed the proceedings till August 18.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 14^th, 2015.