ISLAMABAD: With the fate of around two dozen election petitions hanging in the balance, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has pinpointed a “delayed communication” with the provincial high courts as the reason why serving judges will be unable to take up pending petitions.

The ECP wanted the petitions, which have now been delayed by around 27 months, to be heard by serving judges of the high court. The ECP said on Aug 29 that it would not be extending the terms of the election tribunals beyond Aug 31 this year.

The ECP claims that it had decided on June 22 to give the tribunals one last extension until the end of August and asked them to dispose of the 28 cases still pending with them by that deadline.

No word on whether high courts have agreed to take up the pleas

The commission officially maintains that the decision to approach the high courts concerned for appointment of serving judges to hear and dispose of petitions that remained undecided by then, was also taken in June.

According to a statement issued by the ECP, this decision was received by the section concerned for implementation on June 23, but letters to high court registrars were sent out on Aug 19 -- less than two weeks before the expiry of the tribunals’ terms and two months after the decision was conveyed.

The statement said that the commission had initiated action against the officials “found responsible for the lapse”. Deputy Director (Establishment) Mohammad Saeed and Assistant Director (Establishment) Mohammad Ramzan have been suspended for three months and the ECP DG (Admin) will conduct an inquiry.

However, reports that the Lahore High Court has already declined the ECP’s request -- which is likely to put more on the plate of already-overburdened judges -- indicate that the commission’s plan may have been too ambitious from the outset.

There are as many as 17 election petitions pending in Punjab – almost three times more than the total number of undecided petitions from the three other provinces.

It is also not clear how the ECP could have known in June – when it claims it decided to contact the high courts to hear election petitions – that the tribunals would not have disposed of the cases by the time their last two-month extension ran out.

There has been much speculation that the decision not to extend the terms of the election tribunals was motivated by the decision of the NA-122 tribunal, which deseated National Assembly speaker Ayaz Sadiq and called for re-election in that constituency. The commission has denied this.

ECP Secretary Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad could not be reached for comment.

A day after the tribunals’ terms expired, the commission had still not decided how to deal with the election petitions and announced whether the high courts had acceded to their request.

Sindh LG polls

The ECP secretary has also written to the Sindh chief secretary, asking him to immediately provide an updated version of the Sindh Local Government Act, 2013, and the Sindh Local Councils (Elections) Rules, 2015. The Sindh government had earlier committed to provide the same by Aug 7.

In the letter, the secretary stated that this was a clear lapse on the part of the chief secretary, adding that the ECP had taken serious note of the matter. He cautioned that if the election process was stalled or impeded, the responsibility would squarely lie on the chief secretary’s shoulders.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2015

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