ISLAMABAD, June 29: The Election Commission would soon issue criteria to keep corrupt nazims out of the upcoming local government elections and ensure that the polls were transparent, free and fair, the acting chief election commissioner said on Wednesday.
“Rest assured, there is no room for corrupt nazims in the upcoming elections,” said Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar at a regional dialogue on free, fair and credible elections.
The dialogue was organized by the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat) at a local hotel here in which a number of parliamentarians, electoral experts and representatives of other stakeholders from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka participated.
“Democracy hinges on a fair electoral system and there cannot be a true democracy if there is a flawed election system,” Justice Dogar said. The commission will soon introduce laws aimed at disqualifying nazims with a tarnished image.
During the question-and-answer session, former foreign minister Sardar Asif quoted an audit report presented before the Public Accounts Committee that showed there was corruption of an average of Rs5 billion in every single district.
Because voters would have to compulsorily produce computerized national identity cards, Justice Dogar said that the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) had been asked to speed up the issuance of new identity cards.
Observance of rules and laws, not only by the implementing authorities but also the general public, are necessary for the conduct of fair polls, he said.
Justice Dogar told the audience that the voter turnout in the recent by-elections in Lahore, Kharan-cum-Panjgur and D I Khan had increased to 43.3 per cent. He cited this as a display of public faith in the existing electoral system.
To a question, he said, the delimitation process if not completed in the newly-created districts before pronouncement of the election schedule, then the previous delimitation would be deemed valid.
Justice Dogar was of the view that the local government elections have ensured grassroots representation in development projects as about 40,000 women, 24,000 peasants and more than 6,000 minority members were being represented at the lowest tiers of the local government institutions.
Earlier, former foreign minister of Bangladesh Dr Kamal Hossain and Sakuntala Kadirgamar-Rajasingham, head of South Asia Programme, International Institute of Democracy and Electoral Assistance, Sweden stressed the need for stringent measures to strengthen electoral laws in respective states.
