A major reshuffle of the police and administrative bureaucracy is underway, suggesting the authorities are gearing to deliver on their promise of a February 8 general election.
By Muhammad Ali
ISLAMABAD: The authorities in Pakistan are undertaking a large-scale reshuffle of key administration and police officials in provinces and the federal capital, a hint that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is gearing to hold the next general election on the date appointed for the exercise a while back.
February 8, 2024 was appointed for the next general election early this month by the ECP in consultation with President Arif Alvi in light of the instructions issued by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in a case seeking early conduct of election. The SCP subsequently endorsed the date, and asserted no quarter should harbour any hopes of pushing it further into the future.
Pakistan has been under a caretaker government since August 9, when the then prime minister Shahbaz Sharif dissolved parliament. Under the constitution, the general election was to take place within 90 days of that date.
However, a difficulty arose in light of the outgoing government ratifying the data of a fresh census days before it left office, triggering a redrawing of electoral constituencies by the ECP. That exercise should now be nearing conclusion, paving the way for the conduct of the general election.
However, the mandatory process for the conduct of a general election under the standard operating procedure of the ECP takes 60 days. This is the time required to process submission of nominations, conduct scrutiny of submissions, hold hearings into objections to nominations, publication of the final list of candidates, and electoral campaigns by the candidates and political parties.
This clearly means the ECP must trigger that electoral process by December 10, 2023 at the latest to meet the February 8, 2024 deadline for the general election. If it fails to announce the election schedule by December 10, holding the election February 8, 2024 will not be possible.
Observers say the Election Commission of Pakistan is likely to announce the election schedule in the first week of December 2023. The reshuffle in the bureaucracy is a clear giveaway that things are progressing in the right direction, but a measure of uncertainty over the matter will continue to linger until a timely announcement of the election schedule.
Copyright © 2021 Independent Pakistan | All rights reserved
