KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has declined a request of the Election Commission of Pakistan to appoint judicial officers as district returning officers, returning officers and assistant returning officers for by-elections on two provincial assembly seats — one in Karachi and the other in Shaheed Benazirabad (Nawabshah), it emerged on Friday.

Confiding to Dawn, sources in the ECP said the provincial election commission sent a letter to SHC Chief Justice Maqbool Baqar seeking appointment of judicial officers DROs, ROs and AROs for by-elections on PS-114 (Mehmoodabad) and PS-27 (Nawabshah IV).

However, they said, the SHC turned down the request and informed the ECP accordingly to this effect.

The SHC decision to decline the ECP request is widely seen as a “silent protest” by the judiciary over allegations levelled against the judicial officers who were part of the polling process in the May 2013 elections.

The sources said the ECP letter reached the gazette branch of the SHC and was later forwarded to the office of SHC registrar, who put it up before the chief justice for orders.

They said that the registrar wrote to the chief justice that the National Judicial Policy Making Committee (NJPMC) had consented to the involvement of the judiciary in general elections for one time. He further noted that prior to the general elections the judicial officers were not involved in any by-election as per directions of the NJPMC.

The sources said that the SHC registrar proposed to the SHC chief justice that provision of judicial officers for conducting by-elections be regretted.

Following the rejection of the ECP request, revenue officers might be appointed DROs, ROs and AROs, the ECP sources said.

PS-27 became vacant after the election tribunal declared the election of PPP candidate Ghulam Qadir Chandio void and ordered re-election in the constituency, as the winning candidate failed to authenticate his Master’s degree. The runner-up, Syed Zainul Abideen of the Sindh United Party, had challenged Mr Chandio’s election.

Earlier on July 25, the tribunal had declared the election in PS-114, a provincial assembly seat won by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz candidate Irfanullah Marwat, void on a petition of Abdul Rauf Siddiqui, a Muttahida Qaumi Movement candidate, who alleged that the winner had committed massive rigging in the polling.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2014