IT is a matter of serious concern that despite fixation of the February 08 date for holding general election with the active involvement of the top court of the country, confusion still persists whether or not the polls would be possible on the given date. Some leaders and political parties have been proposing a delay in elections citing security and weather conditions but now the main proponent of the timely elections i.e. PTI itself has knocked the doors of the judiciary on an issue that is expected to affect the schedule and might also the fixed-date for polling.
Dramatic developments keep on taking place in the country mainly because of the absence of rule of law and Constitution as well as the tug-of-war among different players. On Thursday, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) halted the process for appointment of Returning Officer (ROs) and training of District Returning Officers (DROs) after a single member bench of Lahore High Court (LHC) suspended the ECP notification appointing ROs from bureaucracy for the general election on February 8, 2024, which ignited a heated debate in the country about the timely conduct of elections. The ECP was in full gear to proceed ahead with its plans to hold elections on the given date as it received required funds from the Federal Government, completed various tasks despite time constraints and was about to issue an election schedule. Now the election schedule effectively stands delayed as it cannot be announced without appointment of officers that would receive the nomination papers from the prospective candidates. The ECP was so serious in pursuing the deadline that it issued a press release rejecting assertions of the PTI Chairman that elections might be delayed. However, PTI itself became an obstruction in the way of timely conduct of the electoral exercise by dragging the judiciary into the process. There was absolutely nothing wrong in the appointment of ROs from the executive as the law empowers the ECP to requisition officers from judiciary or the executive. As the PTI has problems with some executive officers, there are also, rightly or wrongly, apprehensions among other political parties that the PTI wants ROs from judiciary as it has sympathizers there as it has been securing due and undue relief from courts. It is the constitutional responsibility of the Commission to hold free, fair and transparent elections and instead of untimely litigation efforts should be made to strengthen the hands of the ECP so that it fulfils its responsibility effectively.
