The Supreme Court has given a verdict that objections on delimitation could not be raised after the issuance of election schedule by Election Commission of Pakistan. In this way the apex court shuts the door for delaying the elections.
During the hearing, the acting chief justice stated in his remarks why some people want delay elections. Let the polls be held in time. The bench also observed that once the election commission has issued the schedule for the general elections, the relief for one or two persons by the courts could cause delay in the elections. So the court would have to draw a line to fix the limit.
This time after 1988 , the elections would be held under the supervision of executives instead of judiciary on 8th February. It means that this time Deputy Commissioners of the districts would be DROs (District Returning Officers), while Returning Officers would be the officers nominated by the district administration. The Supreme Court has ended the ambiguity on the matter.
The Election Commission of Pakistan has issued the election schedule according to which the nomination papers would be received on 20th to 22nd December. Preliminary list of the candidates would be issued on 23rd December. The scrutiny of the nomination paper would be carried out from 24th December to 30th December. As per schedule the appellate authority would hear the objections on nomination papers on 3rd January.
While the final list of the candidates would be published on 11th January next year. The last date for the withdrawal of nomination papers is fixed as 12th January, while the electoral symbols would be allotted to the candidates on 13th January. The publication of the almost 250 million ballot papers would be started from 14th January under the security of armed forces.
.
The timely decision of the Supreme Court has saved the country from another political crisis. However due to the verdict of Lahore High Court earlier this week on holding the elections under the bureaucracy, the uncertainty prevailed in the country regarding the elections.
Previously the ECP had twice requested the high courts of all four provinces as well as federal capital to allow the judiciary to supervise the elections but these courts had turned down the ECP’s appeal.
In Pakistan, the election had been managed by the judiciary for the last 24 years, but their impartial role had always been a question mark and their appointment as DROs and ROs could not win the confidence of the people at large scale . The junior officers of the judiciary, while holding elections, had been getting instructions from the judges of the High Court and ignored the directives from ECP.
Now it is quite obvious that the elections would be held on 8th February next year. But some of the political analysts have reservations as after a long time, the elections are going to be held under the district administration and it has become a culture in the country that the transfers and postings of the bureaucracy are being carried out on political influence. There is some pressure on the district administration from the political leaders. This is the very reason that the bureaucrats have more or less political inspiration, which may put some impact on the electioneering process.
However, the Election Commission has also laid embargo on the further posting and transfers of the officers without its consent.