ISLAMABAD: Speakers at a seminar on Tuesday called for devising a mechanism for the accountability of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in case it fails to hold free and fair elections.

The seminar on “Electoral reforms in Pakistan: perspectives and opportunities” was organised by the United Nations Development Programme.

Chairman Senate Nayyar Hussain Bokhari was the chief guest while the speakers included minister of state for information technology Anusha Rehman, Senator Farhatullah Babar (PPP), MNA Shafqat Mehmood (PTI), Haji Adeel (ANP) and MNA Iqbal Qadri (MQM).

They said under Article 218 of the Constitution, it was the responsibility of the commission to hold fair elections. They also proposed an amendment to the Constitution to do away with the condition that the chief election commissioner should be a former judge. They said any person of integrity with an administrative experience should qualify for the position.

The Senate chairman said it was not possible to limit the electoral expenses. Before being notified as a member of the national or provincial assembly, a candidate is required to file a declaration on the expenses incurred on the polls. “And that is the first lie he has to speak,” said Mr Bokhari.

He said the expenditure on the poll day was huge. “If you have 200 polling stations and are supposed to provide food to your polling agents, imagine the cost.”

He said candidates also had to provide transport to the voters, adding that panaflex printing was also costly.

MNA Shafqat Mehmood candidly conceded that he had lied in his declaration that he spent Rs1.5 million on the elections. He said the main expense was on the printing of posters which were supposed to be replaced every two to three days after being damaged by political opponents. He said a system of transparency and accountability in the ECP should be put in place.

“What do we do when the ECP fails to organise the elections fairly.” He observed that the experience of drawing returning officers from the judiciary had underlined the need to rethink over it.

He said political parties and individual candidates were ready to go to any extent to win the polls. “It is sad that politics and corruption have become synonymous in the country,” he remarked.

Senator Farhatullah Babar also endorsed the idea of ECP’s accountability in case of its failure to perform its duty under the law. He said in certain situations the ECP even failed to exercise powers given to it by the law.

He, however, called for giving financial autonomy to the ECP as was being enjoyed by the Supreme Court. He noted that there must be a mandatory requirement for election tribunals to adjudicate upon all petitions within a specified timeframe

ANP leader Haji Adeel said the 2013 elections were not free and fair as a level-playing field was not available to all contestants.

He regretted that some political parties were supporting terrorists, adding his party was not allowed to contest elections.

He proposed that elections in constituencies where the winning candidate got less than 25 per cent of women votes should be declared null and void.

Iqbal Qadri said political parties’ spending on elections was also needed to be controlled and a limit must be set for it.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2014