ISLAMABAD: In a move termed unlawful by the opposition, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) displayed on Tuesday voters’ lists in Punjab and Sindh for one week -- one third of the minimum period specified in the law for the purpose.

The excuse the commission has for the decision is that otherwise it will be difficult to hold local government (LG) elections in the two provinces on Sept 20 as per directives of the Supreme Court.

Some mainstream political parties have criticised the ECP for the violation of the Electoral Rolls Act, which sets a minimum of period of 21 days for display of the lists to enable voters to get wrong entries corrected. The parties believe that the polls will be delayed in any case as the controversy over the proposed phased elections in the two provinces has not been resolved.

The governments of Sindh and Punjab are of the view that staggered elections will lead to better arrangement of the polls and avoid mismanagement witnessed in the LG polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

When contacted, Senator Farhatullah Babar of the PPP said that the ECP’s decision to by-pass the law was unwise and insisted that the law must be followed in letter and spirit.

“If the ECP deviates from the law, somebody might challenge the move in the court which may result in further delay in the polls,” he said.

Answering a question about the proposal to hold LG polls in Sindh and Punjab in phases, he said that the ECP could have displayed the voters’ lists till the matter was finally decided.

Arif Alvi, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s member of the National Assembly, said that the display period of one week was too short and it must be extended to three weeks. He said that thousands of people of Karachi alone wanted to get their addresses mentioned on the electoral rolls changed.

The people have two addresses on their national identity cards and have been automatically enrolled as voters on their permanent addresses.

“They should be provided an opportunity to register their vote in the area they want,” he said.

Senator Kamil Ali Agha of PML-Q accused the ECP of incompetence and said that it kept on depending on the judiciary for decision on matters which fall in its exclusive domain. “The commission has a law to take guidance from but is scared to do so,” he alleged.

Answering a question, he said that there would be no problem if polls in Punjab were held on a single day.

The issue of violation of the law by the ECP is likely to be taken up by the opposition parties in parliament during coming sessions of the two houses.

An official of the ECP said that the schedule for LG elections in the two provinces was likely to be announced in the first week of August. An application seeking the apex court’s approval for phased polls in Sindh and Punjab has been filed by the commission and is expected to be taken up by the court soon. An application for staggered polls was filed in the court earlier also but it was rejected.

The decision to approach the court to seek permission for conduct of polls in phases had been made in the light of lessons learnt from LG polls in KP and the demand of the governments of Punjab and Sindh. The Sindh government has sent a written request to the commission for holding LG elections in three phases.

Published in Dawn, July 22th, 2015

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