ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will seek appointment of District Retu­rning Officers (DROs) and Retu­rning Officers (ROs) drawn from judiciary for the general election to Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) assemblies, a senior official of the ECP told Dawn.

The decision to write to high courts of the two provinces comes in light of the Supreme Court’s judgement in polls delay case, in which it ruled that “the duty cast upon the authorities as set out in Section 50 of the 2017 Act must also be discharged forthwith and proactively”.

Section 50 of the Elections Act reads: “For election to an Assembly, the Commission shall, in the prescribed manner, appoint a District Returning Officer for each district or a specified area from amongst its own officers subject to availability; by selection from a list of officers provided by the Government or a Provincial Government; or from the subordinate judiciary in consultation with the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court.”

Following dissolution of the provincial assemblies of Punjab and KP on Jan 14 and Jan 18, respectively, the ECP had written letters to the Lahore and Peshawar high courts requesting them to spare judicial officers for polls duty. While the LHC registrar through a letter had conveyed to the ECP its inability to spare members of the subordinate judiciary for poll-related duties, the response from Peshawar High Court was still awaited.

Schedule for Punjab Assembly polls may be announced today

“Currently, more than 1.3 million cases are pending in the lower courts and due to the flux of cases, the staff cannot be provided for election duties,” the letter said.

An ECP official, however, said the recent judgement had given a new hope to the ECP as the commission was uncomfortable with government officers as they could easily be influenced by the governments concerned. He referred to complaints about recent local government polls in Sindh and the Daska where presiding officers mysteriously disappeared to manipulate election results.

The official confirmed that under the National Judicial Policy 2009, it had been decided that the judicial officers would not be spared for election duties, but recalled that over 1,000 officers drawn from the judiciary performed duties as DROs and ROs during the 2018 general election.

The official also said the ECP was most likely to announce schedule for general election to the provincial assembly of Punjab today (Tuesday).

Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2023