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ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission (EC) mildly put across a message to the apex court on Thursday that it was not technically possible to bring forward the deadline for the revision of voters' lists.
The submission followed an order by the Supreme Court on Wednesday that the commission must complete the process of preparing fresh electoral rolls by February 23.
A statement by the commission released after a meeting with officials of the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) said it was within its mandate to give a timeline for the revision of rolls or any other electoral activity and review it at any subsequent time, keeping in view the circumstances.
Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Hamid Ali Mirza presided over the meeting.
The commission referred to the proviso to Section 17 and Section 26 of the Electoral Rolls Act and observed that any election announced by the government could be held on the basis of existing rolls until they were revised.
'In the circumstances, the commission resolved that no change or revision of the already issued schedule for revision of electoral rolls is possible, as the timelines given therein cannot be squeezed anymore,' the statement said.
It said the issue of squeezing timeline already issued by the Election Commission had been discussed with the Nadra chairman, who had also shown his inability to do it.
The cautiously drafted statement said that during the meeting held in pursuance of the directives of the Supreme Court, the chairman and the deputy chairman of Nadra were asked to expedite the work relating to data processing of the verified draft electoral rolls and forms handed over to the authority by then commission and print the preliminary electoral rolls as early as possible.
All possible efforts be made and resources employed for completing the assignment within the time frame given by the court to comply with the order in letter and spirit, they were asked.
They were, however, told to keep two vital aspects in view that the legal requirement of a minimum of three weeks for display of preliminary electoral rolls had to be observed and there should be no compromise on the accuracy of the data to avoid the mistakes committed in 2007 and preclude the possibility of any bloodshed hinted at by the apex court.
An official of the Election Commission told Dawn that the merger of the 2002 electoral rolls in haste in 2007 on the orders of the Supreme Court had played havoc with the accuracy as there was no time available for verification.
He said that under the law, the preliminary rolls would be displayed at 55,000 centres for at least three weeks.
He said addressing the complaints received after the display might take another two to three weeks and printing of 70-80 million copies would require substantial time.
Pointing out other problem areas, he said the people of flood-hit Badin and Mirpurkhas were yet to return home and a security operation was under way in Bara area of Khyber Agency.
The official also referred to a threat by the Lashkar-iIslam's leader Mangal Bagh Afridi to kill the enumerators.
He said there was no deliberate delay in revision of the rolls on part of the commission, but speed at the cost of accuracy would not be allowed.
The commission clarified that it had been submitted before the court on Wednesday that under Article 219 of the Constitution and the law, it was the responsibility of the ECP to prepare the electoral rolls for election to the National and provincial assemblies and revise them annually.
In order to fulfil its constitutional and legal duty, the commission issued a detailed schedule for revision of the rolls in collaboration with Nadra, which was submitted before the court in compliance with its order passed on July 4.
Considering the prevailing circumstances, the commission has revised the schedule from time to time and intimated the court.
It was explained to the court that a delay of around three months in printing of preliminary and then final rolls had been caused by heavy rains, floods, a dengue fever outbreak and law and order situation in some areas as intimated by provincial governments, including two resolutions passed by the legislatures of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan on September 19 and October 28 respectively.
The Punjab government, through its chief secretary, remained in touch with the commission and emphasised the need for extending the date.
The last such request was received through the provincial local government secretary on Nov 1 for further extension beyond November 15, which was not accepted.
A decision of the Sindh cabinet was reported through the press on September 26, requesting the commission to extend the door-to-door exercise by three months.
At meetings held on July 12, August 5 and October 31, the provincial election commissioners and Nadra made the same requests.
In view of these conditions, the commission had to extend the door-to-door exercise, which would result in a three month delay in printing of the rolls.
The Election Commission said it had been cognisant of the Supreme Court orders of March 31 to 'fulfill its constitutional commitments -as early as could be possible'.
The commission submitted two reports, on July 25 and November 9, apprising the court's registrar of the delay having been caused due to floods and other reasons, it said.
