PESHAWAR: Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry on Monday called upon the district returning officers and returning officers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to ensure that women were allowed to exercise their right to vote in the May 11 elections, as it was a constitutional requirement.

“Every individual has the right to vote irrespective of his gender, caste or creed. It has been observed that male members of the family don’t allow women to cast vote in elections, so you all (DROs and ROs) should convince those discouraged women from casting vote in their respective constituencies. If you succeed in this mission, it would be a great achievement,” he told DROs and ROs from several Khyber Pakhtunkhwa districts during an interactive session here.

The CJ said free and fair elections were pre-requisite for bringing the true democracy in the country. He added that it was not only in their interest but also in the interest of international community as world had become a global village.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry said: “The chosen representatives elected as a result of free and fair general elections will indeed help in shaping the destiny of our nation , specially when we are at the cross road of out national history, where we are facing many threats and challenges like deteriorating law and order situation, energy crises, dismal socio-economic development, etc.”

“In case of failure to conduct the election in free and fair manner sustainable democratic structure can not be established, which may result in the political chaos,” the Chief Justice maintained.

He asked the DROs and ROs that they must perform their duties as provided under the law following which no body would courage to interfere and abuse the Constitutional obligation of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold the general elections in a free, fair and transparent manner.

“You, as members of the judiciary, are given an important task to conduct elections in a free, fair and impartial manner and in doing so, you should not be influenced by consideration. You should remain neutral and effective in doing the duty,” he said.

The chief justice said under Article 218 of the Constitution, it was obligatory on ECP to organise and conduct elections and make such arrangements as were necessary to ensure that elections were conducted honestly, justly, fairly and in accordance with law, and that corrupt practices were guarded against.

He said women had for the first time come forward in Bajaur and Dir areas to contest elections.

He added that women voters were usually forced to cast vote in favour of a particular candidate as asked by male members of their families.

Justice Iftikhar said lack of women’s education aggravated the situation when many votes were cast wrongly.

Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan, who was also in attendance, called upon the people to cautiously exercise their right to vote to elect honest and competent representatives, saying it would help reduce burden on the judiciary.

He asked how long, the judiciary would alone safeguard the rights of people and protect exchequer. He said the people should fulfill their constitutional obligation of electing proper representatives.

In the session, Justice Iftikhar and Supreme Court Registrar Dr Faqir Hussain explained the circumstances under which the National Judicial Policy Making Committee had allowed the involvement of judicial officers in electoral process contrary to the 2009 announcement that in future, they would not act as DROs and ROs.

They said ECP as well as other stakeholders, including political parties, civil society and media, had made several requests to the judiciary to reconsider its 2009 decision as the entire nation trusted the judiciary and it would also ensure holding of free and fair polls.Later, DROs and ROs apprised the chief justice of their problems and other election-related issues.

One of the DROs requested him to ensure that the personnel of armed forces deputed during election duties follow the returning officers’ directives as in the past, they had observed that those personnel didn’t abide by their orders.