ISLAMABAD: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Ahmad Shah has asked the Election Com­mission of Pakistan (ECP) to lift the ban it had imposed on recruitments and development projects till the announcement of dates for the upcoming polls.

In a letter to ECP secretary Babar Yaqoob Fateh Mohammad, the opposition leader referred to the ECP notification banning recruit­­ments and development schemes approved on or after April 1 and said: “These instructions are appreciated, however, (they) seem to have been issued too early — much before the announcement of election 2018 dates”.

He said the government functions would come to a halt much before elections if these instructions were complied with at this stage. These instructions should be issued as and when the election dates were announced so that the government functioned smoothly and properly till then, he added.

When contacted, a senior ECP official said it was the commission’s constitutional mandate to conduct free and fair polls and check corrupt practices. He said Article 218 (3) of the Constitution reads: “It shall be the duty of the Election Commission ….to organise and conduct the election and to make such arrangements as are necessary to ensure that the election is conducted honestly, justly, fairly and in accordance with law, and that corrupt practices are guarded against.”

The official said the ECP had observed in the past that development schemes and recruitments were often used as a tool to attract voters a few months before the polls. He said since it was only possible for lawmakers from the ruling party at the Centre and in the provinces to dole out these favours other politicians in the electoral race did not get a level-playing field.

He agreed that the standard practice in the past had been to ban development schemes and recruitments after the election schedule was announced; however, the ECP had announced the bar earlier this year in the interest of fairness.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2018