LB polls in present situation impossible: ECP

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) maintained that the local bodies’ (LB) elections in the present circumstances were not possible as the three provinces were yet to meet the prerequisites necessary for the exercise and will submit yet another application in the Supreme Court today (Monday) for fresh directions.

The decision to seek the apex court’s intervention again was made in a hurriedly called meeting here at the Election Commission with Acting Chief Election Commissioner Justice Tasadduq Hussain Jillani in the chair.

The fresh application will be filed within days after an earlier application was set aside by the Supreme Court, and the Election Commission was asked to conduct the elections as per the dates proposed by Balochistan, Sindh and Punjab.

“How can we move forward when the provinces are not yet ready for the marathon exercise? Therefore, a miscellaneous application will be filed in the Supreme Court today (Monday),” sources privy to the deliberations told The News.

The Punjab government wrote to the ECP and expressed its inability to carry out the reconciliation of voter lists with the census blocks and is also in the process of filing an application to seek more time for the upcoming polls that are fixed for December 7.

The most important issue impeding the polls in Punjab is the fact that the provincial government promulgated an ordinance to hold party-based elections after the Lahore High Court (LHC) gave direction on this count last week.

“There are a number of legal issues that need to be addressed first. With the issuance of an ordinance, you can’t conduct party-based polls,” the ECP sources said.The forum took stock of the issues relating to the proposed exercise and also pondered over the consensus resolution adopted by the National Assembly last week, calling for delaying the polls. Even the informal session of the Senate also passed a unanimous resolution that also supported the NA resolution but also called for holding party-based elections.

The meeting noted that Sindh had already filed an application, seeking delay in the holding of local bodies polls, which are slated for November 27. Among other things, the province sent a list of ROs, DROs and AROs by Sunday evening, whereas it was supposed to have landed at the Election Commission earlier.

“No one is ready for the grand exercise, including political parties, candidates, voters and even the government institutions such as the Printing Corporation of Pakistan and the Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR),” the sources said.In the given situation, the Election Commission could not hold the exercise and needed to get fresh directions from the Supreme Court.

The government of Punjab wrote to the Election Commission and expressed its inability to conduct reconciliation of voter lists as per the recently-held delimitations in the province, and in return the ECP hinted at doing the job on the condition that the provincial government would provide logistic and manpower support in this connection.

“The Election Commission has written back to the Punjab government and called for immediately sparing manpower and other resources for the preparation of the voter lists,” said a senior ECP official.

Taking notice of the transfer of the chief secretary Sindh and managing director of the Printing Corporation of Pakistan (PCP), the Election Commission ordered reversal of the orders.

In a letter to the secretary Establishment Division, the Election Commission asked for a report within 48 hours as to why its order issued on November 06 was not complied with that after the issuance of the poll schedule for three provinces, there would be no postings and transfers of government officials.

The letter, a copy of which is available with this correspondent, said that the acting chief election commissioner had expressed serious concern over these developments that could have impact on the proposed polls.