RAWALPINDI: The Elec­tion Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Sunday deferred elec­tion to a National Ass­em­bly seat from Rawalpindi after disqualification of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Hanif Abbasi due to his conviction by the Control of Narcotics Substances Court in the ephedrine case.

The ECP’s decision came in the wake of criticism in political and social circles over the timing of the court’s verdict in the six-year-old case. The judgement had virtually provided a walkover to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-backed Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, who had regularly predicted in his speeches that Abbasi would be disqualified.

“Only two days are left to the conduct of polls when Mr Hanif Abbasi, a potential candidate from NA-60 Rawalpindi-IV, has been disqualified, which has resulted in heated debate in the media and political circles rendering the atmosphere as fully and negatively charged,” said an official announcement by the ECP.

“The ECP having taken cognisance of all the attending circumstances is bound to provide level playing field to the contestants, under the Constitution and the law, particularly Section 4 of the Elections Act 2017 read with Article 218(3) of the Constitution and the powers of the Commission defined by the august Supreme Court of Pakistan in famous Workers Party case, and further in order to do complete justice between the contestants and the parties, the ECP directs that the general elections 2018 in NA-60 Rawalpindi IV is postponed,” the ECP said.

The elections in the constituency would now be held “after the scheduled elections with other postponed elections in the country,” it added.

Hours after the ECP’s announcement, Sheikh Rashid addressed a press conference and termed the ECP decision “unconstitutional”.

He declared that he would challenge the ECP’s decision in court as the Commission had “no authority” to postpone the election unless a candidate had died.

“It is a conspiracy to defeat Imran Khan’s PTI and me, but we will challenge the decision in the court and the Chief Election Commissioner will have to inform the court about the law in this regard,” said the Awami Muslim League chief.

“The ECP did not postpone the election after the disqualification of retired Capt Mohammad Safdar and Maryam Nawaz and it postponed the election in case of Hanif Abbasi. This raises many questions,” Sheikh Rashid said.

The ECP also responded to allegations levelled by the PPP and the PML-N members during a Senate session and said the allegations were “based on disinformation”.

In their speeches, some senators had alleged that the ECP and the caretaker governments were not providing their parties a level playing field. They had also questioned the role of troops being deployed at polling stations and the ECP’s decision to give them magisterial powers.

“It needs to be pointed out that the statements made by some members of the Senate with regard to the conduct of elections are based on disinformation and the same are required to be clarified,” said a lengthy statement issued by a spokesman for the ECP.

The commission explained that it had ordered the deployment of army personnel to polling stations with a view to providing an enabling environment for the conduct of free and fair elections. The troops would perform their duties in accordance with Section 193 of the Elections Act 2017 and within the confines of the mandate assigned to them by the commission in the shape of Code of Conduct for Security Officials.

The ECP had authorised each designated officer in-charge of armed forces/civil armed forces to exercise the powers of magistrate first class during their deployment on the polling day. However, these powers were subject to some conditions mentioned in the code of conduct.

The commission expressed “serious reservations about the statements made and the impression created in the house about an independent constitutional entity which is working with complete freedom, unbiasedness and impartiality”.

“It is brought to the notice that allegations of inactivity by the ECP are baseless. Whether it is Mr Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s convoy in Punjab or taking up the issue with NAB [National Accountability Bureau], the ECP played an effective role. The government of Punjab was appropriately warned against disruption in electioneering.”

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2018