Lawyers assail CEC over poll ‘discrepancies’
• PBC, SCBA and SHCBA point out inconsistencies’ in delimitation, seat allocations
• Commission denies claims regarding creation of extra seat in ECP chief’s home district
• Apex court bench refuses to take up delimitation issue to keep polls timeline intact
ISLAMABAD: As the Supreme Court refused to intervene in election-related matters to keep the polls schedule on track, representatives of three legal bodies on Tuesday expressed serious concerns over purported discrepancies in election procedures and demanded the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja for the sake of free and fair elections.
Two of the groups — the Pakistan Bar Council and the Supreme Court Bar Association — referred to “mounting discrepancies” in the lead-up to elections as they appeared apprehensive about CEC Raja’s ability to conduct transparent elections on Feb 8.
In a statement, PBC Vice Chairman Haroonur Rashid and Executive Committee Chairman Hassan Raza Pasha regretted that alleged inconsistencies in election procedures, delimitations and seat allocations have given rise to a growing perception that in the presence of the incumbent CEC, elections cannot be conducted transparently.
SCBA President Shahzad Shaukat and Secretary Syed Ali Imran as well as the 26th Executive Committee of the SCBA also joined hands in expressing deep concerns about the elections. “The SCBA believes that… the present CEC should go home, as fair and impartial elections with equal opportunity for all are not possible under his command,” it said.
In order to push for free and fair polls, the PBC expressed its intention of calling an all-Pakistan convention soon to formulate and announce a line of action and date for a lawyers’ movement in consultation with the SCBA. The date will be announced soon, however.
“The aim is to ensure…transparent general elections which is not possible in the presence of incumbent CEC as it seems, he has different codes for every political party or individual,” the PBC believed. Its statement also asserted the crucial need for holding the general elections as planned on Feb 8 and stressed the necessity for all political parties and independent candidates to be accorded a level playing field.
The statement alleged that a “glaring example” was the matter of allocation of two National Assembly seats to the CEC’s native district, Jhelum, with a population of about 1.38 million, while Hafizabad district, with a population of about 1.32 million, was allocated only one seat. A similar imbalance is observed in the allocation of seats for Rawalpindi division, the statement said, adding despite its lower population compared to Gujranwala, an additional seat has been allocated.
The PBC said it could not turn a blind eye to these crucial matters and urged the Supreme Court to take notice of these discrepancies, instead of endorsing every act of the CEC. “The PBC firmly believes that the primary objective is not merely holding elections but conducting them in a free, fair, and transparent manner, providing equal opportunities to all stakeholders.”
Likewise, the SCBA also questioned the transparency of elections, saying it was integral to the electoral process. The association expressed concerns about the competence of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in terms of rising discrepancies in the electoral process, which raised “valid doubts about jeopardising the fairness and impartiality” of the electoral process.
“Previously, neglecting to address discrepancies in the electoral process before the polls have not only harmed the country but also risked the failure to achieve meaningful results, imposing a burden on the public exchequer and expending valuable resources.”
In response to the allegations levelled by the PBC and SCBA officials, the ECP issued a statement to put the controversy to rest. A spokesperson said that the media reports regarding the creation of an additional seat in the native district of the CEC were baseless. As per the statement, the native constituency of the ECP chief was NA-82 in district Sargodha and no additional seat had been created in the said district. According to the spokesperson, the commission does not create additional seats to please any person and the same principle was taken into account in Hafizabad district.
SHCBA endorses concerns
The Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA) also expressed serious concerns over the CEC conduct regarding election procedures, delimitations and seat allocations.
In a statement issued on Tuesday evening, the SHCBA claimed that district Rawalpindi had been allocated an additional seat despite its lower population.
“It is evident that the conduct of the CEC raises serious doubts about the integrity of the general elections, presenting an environment that appears to lack transparency and fair play,” it said, supporting the “concerns raised by Pakistan Bar Council”.
SC refuses to intervene
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Tuesday once again turned down a request to intervene in the delimitation of the constituencies, with acting Chief Justice Sardar Tariq Masood emphasising that a little bit of stability has come with the announcement of the general elections on Feb 8, 2024.
“Don’t you need stability in the country,” Justice Masood observed while pointing towards Advocate Malik Qamar Afzal who was representing Mir Khan. Justice Masood was heading a three-judge bench also comprising Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Athar Minallah.
The petitioner had challenged the delimitation of PB-12 in Katchi. The counsel argued that the delimitation had been demarcated by ECP based on a population of 442,000 whereas the delimitation of adjoining PB-11 (Jhal Magsi) was done based on a population of 203,000.
The court observed that after the schedule announcement, the delimitation of the constituencies could not be touched.
“The election process will get disturbed if the court starts intervening in individual matters,” Justice Shah observed. He added the scheduled date of Feb 8 would not be disturbed at any cost since it may derail the entire election process. “The court is trying to develop certain parameters to ensure the protection of the rights of all the litigants before it.”
Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2023