ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court (LHC) has declined a request of the Election Commission of Pakistan to spare judicial officers for upcoming local government elections in the province and for delimitation exercise for the polls.

Through a letter, the ECP had sought appointment of judicial officers as delimitation authorities and appellate authorities for disposal of objections arising from delimitation of union councils and wards for local government elections in Punjab.

“The request has already been declined by the then Chief Justice on 02.03.2015. Moreover, we are short of judicial officers, therefore, the request is declined,” the Chief Justice observed.

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The Chief Justice’s words have been quoted in a letter written by LHC Registrar and received by the ECP through the provincial election commissioner.

The LHC Chief Justice has also rejected the ECP’s request for appointment of judicial officers as appellate authorities for the local government elections in cantonments scheduled for March 25.

The then Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, had given a one-time waiver to the bar placed under a judicial policy in 2009 to spare judges for election duty.

The ban was placed as the performance of election duty by judicial officers had dragged the judiciary into political controversies.

The waiver was opposed by the civil society saying that the ECP must retain its authority for managing election operations independently as the ECP’s sharing of its constitutionally defined responsibilities with judiciary has created a conflict of interest for judiciary and has undermined the credibility of both the ECP and the judiciary.

It is for the first time that a request was made by the ECP to the judiciary for sparing its officers for election-related duties after the 2013 general elections.

Published in Dawn, April 4th, 2015

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