ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday got back the power to de-list political parties failing to meet the requirements of the newly-enacted Elections Act as the Islamabad High Court (IHC) restored the notice issued by the ECP to all the 352 political parties.

The court had suspended the notice on November 30.

On November 25, the ECP issued the final notice to the 352 political parties asking them to submit the list of at least 2,000 of their members and deposit the enlistment fee of Rs200,000 each by Dec 2 or be ready to be de-listed. By then, none of the parties had met the requirement of the law passed by parliament.

IHC restores final notice sent by ECP to 352 parties to submit list of at least 2,000 members and enlistment fee of Rs200,000 each

The first notice had been issued on Oct 20 and a reminder sent to all the political parties for depositing the enlistment fee and providing a list of at least 2,000 members along with their signatures or thumb impressions and copies of their computerised national identity cards.

An advertisement was also placed in leading newspapers to remind the political parties of their legal obligation.

The ECP expressed the hope that the provision in the new law would help check the mushroom growth of political parties. Many of the dormant parties would also cease to exist.

The notice reminded the parties that under the Elections Act 2017 they were required to comply with the provisions of Sections 201, 202, 209 and 210 within 60 days of its enforcement.

“In case an enlisted political party fails to comply with the provisions... the ECP shall cancel the enlistment of the political party under Section 202(5) of the Act,” says the notice.

Under the law, a political party enlisted by the commission before the commencement of the Act shall be deemed to have been enlisted provided it has filed the required documents. If not it shall submit the documents within 60 days of the enforcement of the law.

Under the Act, if an enlisted party fails to file documents within the stipulated timeframe, the commission shall cancel its enlistment after giving it a chance to explain the reasons.

Justice Aamer Farooq of the IHC suspended the notice after a preliminary hearing of the petition filed by little-known political parties having no representation in the parliament, including Democratic Party of Pakistan, Pakistan Democratic Front, Sada-i-Pakistan Party and Pakistan Muslim League (Safdar).

The petitioners said they were legally enlisted as political parties after having fulfilled all procedural and codal formalities. Contending that the provisions of the Elections Act 2017 were ultra vires and against the Constitution, they requested the court to suspend the ECP notice.

A senior ECP official, when contacted, wondered how the IHC could have suspended the notice issued in line with an Act of the parliament and that too on the petition of political parties that existed only on papers.

He said the law provided that an appeal against the refusal of enlistment or cancellation of the registration of a political party would be filed with the Supreme Court.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2017