ISLAMABAD: As the opposition has submitted its proposed terms of reference (ToR) for the parliamentary committee formed to probe alleged rigging in the July 25 general elections raising crucial questions over the conduct of the polls, the government wonders if the status of the committee is legal or otherwise.

The 10-point ToR prepared by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and endorsed by all other opposition parties, including the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), were handed over by the former’s Syed Naveed Qamar to Shafqat Mehmood of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), the convener of the sub-committee constituted by the main committee to finalise the ToR to decide the panel’s mandate and scope.

Briefing reporters after the second in-camera meeting of the sub-committee, Mr Mehmood said in the previous meeting some treasury members had questioned the legal and constitutional status of the committee in the light of Article 225 of the Constitution.

The PTI leader said it had prompted him to write a letter to the head of the main committee, Pervez Khattak, seeking his legal opinion over the issue, but he had not received any response so far.

Govt accused of avoiding investigation by raising questions over legality of parliamentary committee formed to conduct inquiry

Mr Mehmood, however, said they had decided to continue their work without waiting for the response as the government did not want to give an impression that it was running away from the investigations into the allegations of poll rigging.

“Our intentions are clear,” Mr Mehmood said: “Had we wanted to delay the matter, we would have said that we would not proceed until we receive a legal opinion on Article 225.”

He said they (PTI) still believed that the July 25 elections were “fair” and that was why they had already stated that they would have no objection over any investigations into the allegations of rigging.

However, he said, Article 225 of the Constitution needed a clear interpretation and a serious question had been raised whether the parliament or any other institution could hold investigations in the presence of this article.

Article 225 of the Constitution titled “election dispute” states, “No election to a House or a provincial assembly shall be called in question except by an election petition presented to such tribunal and in such manner as may be determined by Act of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament).”

On the other hand, the opposition members criticised the government for questioning the legal status of the committee, alleging that the ruling party was now running away from its commitment given on the floor of the house by Prime Minister Imran Khan himself.

The PML-N’s Rana Sanaullah recalled that Mr Khan in his speech had stated that the government was ready to open even 100 constituencies, if demanded by the opposition.

He said the opposition had submitted “wisely-drafted” ToR which covered all aspects of the elections.

He said they were expecting that the sub-committee would review each and every ToR, but the ruling party had sought more time.

The PPP’s Naveed Qamar said it had been decided in the previous meeting that all the parties would bring their ToR, but the PTI had not submitted any such draft and sought time for more consultations.

Opposition’s ToR

Through the ToR, the opposition wants that the committee should find the answer to key questions like “who made the decision to post army officials inside and outside the polling stations, under what law and to what effect?; Why were polling agents removed from polling stations arbitrarily even though they had authorisation forms from the candidates? and why did the Result Transmission System (RTS) or the Result Management System (RMS) fail?”

According to the opposition, the committee should also probe whether “the Election Act 2017 and the rules made accordingly were implemented in letter and spirit by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and other state authorities” and “was the election commission allowed to work independently and had complete autonomy to carry out the elections in accordance with the constitution and law?”

The committee, the opposition suggests, should also evaluate if “all political parties were provided a level playing field in terms of freedom to its candidates?”

Similarly, the opposition parties want to know “how many results were declared after midnight and why were the reasons in writing not given in each case as per law?”

The proposed ToR say “the committee may call any witnesses, including officials of the ECP, National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), a select number of returning officers, presiding officers, other officials on election duty, candidates or any other person required to explain/testify to help answer any of the above queries.”

The next meeting of the sub-committee will now be held on Nov 28.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2018