By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) suspended a training session for returning officers on Thursday after a court order challenged its decision to appoint bureaucrats to oversee the elections scheduled for Feb. 8 next year.
The order, issued by the Lahore High Court on Wednesday night, came in response to a petition filed by the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, which argued that officials from the lower judiciary should be appointed instead of the bureaucracy for the election exercise.
The court order has cast doubt over the electoral process, which is expected to be a close contest between the arch-rivals Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the PTI, led by the former cricket star Imran Khan.
Several political parties, including the PTI, have expressed concern over the possible delay or disruption of the polls.
An official of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said the announcement of the election schedule depended on the final verdict in the case related to the appointment of district returning officers (DROs) and returning officers (ROs).
“The ROs are the ones who issue public notices inviting nominations and also receive and scrutinize nomination papers. An election schedule cannot be issued in the absence of ROs,” the official said. “In fact, it is the job of the ROs to implement the schedule.”
The official said the appointment of ROs was made as per the law, and expressed surprise over the court ruling, which came late Wednesday night.
He said another hurdle was the delimitation cases being remanded to the ECP by the high courts for reconsideration and also claimed that the judiciary, not the ECP, would be responsible in case elections were delayed.
However, the ECP official said that intervention from the Supreme Court could dissipate the uncertainty surrounding the elections in the wake of these recent developments, but he rejected reports that the ECP planned to approach the Supreme Court against the Lahore High Court order.
Meanwhile, the PTI demanded the ECP issue the election schedule within 24 hours, saying the commission “still has time to appoint DROs and ROs from the lower judiciary, if they do not want to find an excuse to postpone the elections.”
PTI chairman Gohar Ali Khan alleged that the ECP had made an excuse to postpone elections in the past as well.
“The ECP had to issue the schedule for the elections, but it did not. District administration officers cannot be appointed as ROs because they can be involved in rigging. That is why we demanded ROs from the judiciary,” he said.
“PTI is the only party that has been making efforts for elections for the last two years, but ECP has been trying to avoid it. We demand the ECP announce the election schedule within 24 hours.”
He also called on the Supreme Court to ensure that the elections were held on time, as suspension of the DROs and ROs could not be a justification for the delay.
Reacting to his remarks, an ECP spokesman said the commission could not be held responsible for the present situation.
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