ECP members: CEC rejects resignation demand, refers protesters to SJC

Political parties disappointed over ROs’ appointment

ISLAMABAD:

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice (retd) Sardar Raza Khan Thursday rejected an appeal by political parties for the top poll supervisory body’s members to resign from office ahead of the upcoming local government elections in Sindh and Punjab.

Moreover, appointment of bureaucrats as returning officers (ROs) to supervise the LG polls has become a bone of contention between the parties and the Election Commission of Pakistan.

During Thursday’s consultative meeting at the ECP’s headquarters, the parties reiterated their demand for all four members of the election body to step down. The CEC told them that the constitution stipulates the procedure to remove officials holding constitutional offices. “Those who have objections against the ECP members may approach the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) to remove the former judges.” He said the SJC was the correct constitutional forum for their removal. Interestingly, the Sindh and Punjab ECP members did not attend the huddle.

Representatives of major political parties also expressed strong reservations over the appointment of bureaucrats from provincial departments as ROs for the upcoming LG elections.

After the top judiciary refused to spare subordinate judges for polling duties, the ECP appointed DROs, ROs and AROs from government departments, mainly from district administrations, like deputy commissioners, additional deputy commissioners and assistant commissioners. Where these officials were unavailable, the election body appointed officers from other provincial government departments as supervisors.

The CEC told the political parties that since the judiciary had refused to spare subordinate judges as per the 2009 judicial policy, the ECP was left with limited choices.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Vice-President Sherry Rehman, who was a part of the PPP delegation, told The Express Tribune that her party and many others had strong reservations over the ROs appointed to oversee the LG polls. “It’s not a big deal for the ECP to get 65 officers above grade 18 to act as DROs. The election body can get people of good repute from among retired judges, the civil society, etc. But they have appointed people from district management groups, teachers and other departments.”

Saifullah Niazi of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said his party had suggested that if the ECP could not persuade the judiciary to spare district judges to perform polling duties, it could appoint senior officers from other provinces or at least from other divisions to perform the sensitive job. “This would minimise the chances of local influence on the officials working in the same districts.”

Former minister Muhammad Ali Durrani, who heads his own party now, proposed that the National Assembly could pass a resolution requesting the Supreme Court to review its decision. However, the suggestion did not get any support, said a source privy to the meeting.

Call for revising poll schedule

Some political parties, including the PPP, have suggested that the ECP revise the schedule for the first phase of LG elections (fixed for October 31) in view of Hajj and Muharram. Moreover, the PPP has expressed reservations over distribution of districts for the three phases of the polls. The party’s representatives said many densely populated districts have been clubbed together. This could create difficulties in maintaining law and order, they added.

The PTI, on the other hand, sought exclusion of Lahore and Lodhran districts from the first phase. The reason: by-polls for some National Assembly and provincial assembly seats are scheduled in these districts around the time the LG polls are scheduled.

Representatives of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Awami National Party complained that they were not being provided a level playing field. The MQM lamented that their party offices had been shut during the ongoing operation in Karachi, while the ANP claimed that their party could not openly campaign because it was still on the hit list of terrorists in its stronghold Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.


Published in The Express Tribune, September 11^th, 2015.