ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has decided to strongly defend its position before the judiciary that ECP is not empowered under the constitution or law to announce the date of general elections.
Sources said that apart from submitting its reply before the Supreme Court defending the authority of the Bureaucracy Reform Commission to conduct free and fair elections, the ECP on Thursday sought guidance on the matter due to difficulties. Therefore, decided to approach the Lahore High Court through a civil miscellaneous application. This was faced in implementation of the decision of LHC on 10 February 2023.
Apart from this, the Commission will also file an intra-court appeal in the Lahore High Court against the court decision which, according to the legal minds of the Commission, failed to consider the constitutional provisions read with the provisions of the Election Act. Put the onus of announcing the election date on the ECP by any means.
The ECP was directed by the Lahore High Court to announce the date of the Punjab Provincial Assembly elections with immediate notification, after which the Governor is the constitutional head of the Punjab province, to ensure that To ensure the holding of elections. Not more than ninety days as mandated by the Constitution.
According to ECP sources, the preparation, organization and conduct of the election begins after the announcement of the date of election by the concerned head of the province/state as the case may be. In the case of general elections in the province, the Governor has to announce the date, while for the National Assembly elections, the President has to give the date of election.
The Commission is of the view that the interpretation of the single judge of the Lahore High Court is in violation of the express provisions of the Constitution and the Election Act, under which the Governor and the President are given express powers to announce the date of elections.
It is said that the plan for announcing the date of elections after the dissolution of the assemblies is basically given in Article 48 to the President in case of dissolution of the National Assembly. and to the Governor in case of dissolution of the Provincial Assembly under Article 105. ECP sources said that the said scheme of the constitution means that the process of fresh elections will be initiated by the state/provincial head in consultation with other stakeholders. Article 224 carries over to the mandate specified under the above Article and moves towards calling of elections and formation of caretaker cabinet.
Therefore, the separation of Article 105 from Article 224 by the LHC in its recent order is bound to be set aside as it violates the principles of consistent interpretation of the law. The ECP has been informed by both the Punjab and KP governments that they are not in a position to assist the commission in conducting the elections for various reasons stated by both the governments.
It is further stated that the Ministry of Home Affairs vide letter dated 08-02-2023 has also informed that static deployment of civil and armed forces as required by the Election Commission at “sensitive and highly sensitive” polling stations in the constituencies. Not possible. .
The Ministry of Finance has also informed that in view of the critical economic situation, the demand of the commission to provide funds for holding the election is not feasible and has requested to postpone this demand until the stability of the economic situation.
The Commission has also written a letter to the Registrar Lahore High Court on February 1, 2023 under Sections 50 and 51 of the Elections Act 2017 in which the Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court has been consulted for the appointment of a subordinate. Judicial Officers as District Returning Officers and Returning Officers. In response to this, Registrar Lahore High Court Lahore informed the instructions of Hon’ble Chief Justice and expressed regret for providing judicial services as DROs and ROs.
The commission is said to have also approached Governor Punjab for consultation on fixing the date of Punjab Assembly general elections, as directed by the Lahore High Court. However, the governor expressed that the Punjab Provincial Assembly was not dissolved by him, so he is not bound to fix the date of general elections for the assembly.
He further stated that he would avail himself of legal options to challenge the decision in the matter. The Governor also clarified that despite the decision on the subject, there is no provision in the Constitution or the Elections Act, 2017 for consultation between the office of the Governor and the Election Commission to announce the date of the election in the given circumstances.
