“The ECP shuttering the polls is violative of the Constitution, a mockery of the law, and contemptuous of the Supreme Court… This goes beyond voting preferences now: the principle – of the freedom to elect one’s representatives – is at stake.”
By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The opposition Tehreek-e-Insaf party will petition the Supreme Court to seek a ruling to stop an effort by the election authorities to put off Punjab Assembly elections by more than five months to October 8, calling it an unconstitutional move to favour the ruling coalition alliance.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday postponed an election in the Punjab province — originally scheduled for April 30, citing an abysmal law and order situation in the country.
The ECP withdrew the Punjab Election Program notification issued on March 8 and decided to postpone the Punjab election and announced October 8 as the new date for provincial polls.
The provincial assemblies in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa were dissolved on January 14 and January 18 respectively, before the expiry of their mandated five-year terms on the orders of former prime minister and PTI chairman Imran Khan.
Khan dissolved both the assemblies in a bid to force the coalition government of the Prime Miniister Shehbaz Sharif to announce early nationwide polls.
Khan has been seeking snap polls in the country since he was ousted from power in a no confidence vote in April last year.
The ECP’s move is likely to cause more sparks between supporters of PTI and the government. The move also appears to violate a supreme court ruling earlier this month that a new election be held within 90 days of the Punjab assembly being dissolved.
The supreme court ruled on 1 March that the new elections be held within 90 days. It asked the election commission to propose a poll date and said it could deviate from the 90-day deadline only by the “barest minimum” in case of any practical difficulty.
The electoral watchdog said the decision was taken after briefing of the government and different departments and intelligence agencies informed that “the law and order situation in the country don’t permit to hold elections at any province at this point of time.”
Fawad Chaudhry, senior PTI leader said the entire country wanted Article 6 of the Constitution, which deals with treason, to be invoked against the ECP officials.
“This article has never been imposed on anyone but this time we have found civilians and it will be applied on them,” Chaudhry told a news conference in Islamabad. “This is the first time a sitting civilian government has made a move to subvert the Constitution”.
He expressed the hope that the apex court would rule in the party’s favour.
“It is imperative for the top court and the public to protect the Constitution… I appeal to the judges that saving the Constitution is their job… You don’t have any other work.”
The law minister Azam Nazir Tarar, on Thursday, however defended the election panel’s decision to delay the polls until October, when the national parliament also completes its five-year mandatory term.
Tarar told a news conference in Islamabad that the government was unable to fund and ensure the safety of the vote in the wake of a “dire economic crisis” and “deteriorating security situation” in Pakistan.
He argued that both national and provincial elections must be held on the same day, as has been the tradition in the country.
Legal experts maintained the government and the ECP both were constitutionally bound to organize the vote within 90 days and in line with a recent Supreme Court verdict ordering authorities to respect the deadline outlined in the constitution.
“Disgusted. Yet another dark moment in our sad history. Little men on high chairs,” tweeted Salman Akram Raja, a senior Supreme Court attorney, in response to postponing the polls.
Asad Rahim Khan, a lawyer and columnist, said the election panel’s move was “destructive for democracy” in Pakistan.
“The ECP shuttering the polls is violative of the Constitution, a mockery of the law, and contemptuous of the Supreme Court,” Khan said on Twitter. “This goes beyond voting preferences now: the principle – of the freedom to elect one’s representatives – is at stake.”
Copyright © 2021 Independent Pakistan | All rights reserved
