Ill-timed controversy over amendment to delay polls

ISLAMABAD: An ill-timed, imprudent controversy has been inflamed about the parliamentary approval of the proposed constitutional amendment, which is aimed at empowering the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to do delimitation of constituencies and make other obligatory arrangements, endangering the holding of the 2018 general elections on time.

The war of words going on among the political parties, voicing divergent views, for point scoring is reflective of irrationality and insincerity to the polls on schedule. It has created doubts about their very intention to let the electoral process take place on the appointed time, in August next.

The delay in arriving at a consensus once again on the amendment throws up certain specific questions if the ECP, in the absence of appropriate powers, is unable to put in place the election arrangements to organize the polls as scheduled.

Will the tenure of the present federal and provincial governments have to be extended, how and by whom? How and who will remove these administrations after they have exhausted their mandated five-year terms if the fresh elections were not held?

There is no provision in the Constitution answering such eventuality. However, under Article 232, while a proclamation of emergency is in force, the Parliament may by law extend the term of the National Assembly for a period not exceeding one year and not extending in any case beyond a period of six months after the proclamation has ceased to be in force.

This provision can be invoked only when a state of emergency has been imposed. There is no such thing on the horizon.

Two, there will be utter political chaos and confusion if the elections were not arranged on time due to the pointless bickering among the political parties over the constitutional amendment. It is difficult to hazard a guess about the scenario that will emerge in the wake of such a situation. But this state of affairs will definitely fuel uncertainty and doubts about the democratic system.

Three, a way-out has been suggested by some opposition forces to avoid making the 2017 census the basis of the new polls – approaching the Supreme Court seeking condonation of this deliberate omission of not using the new census due to political wrangling. Nobody knows what will be response of the highest judicial forum to such a plea. Again, a messy environment will permeate.

Four, the political parties, which are dragging their feet on the early passage of the constitutional amendment, have no answer to the stern warning issued by the ECP that litigation would ensue in superior courts questioning the very validity of the parliamentary polls if organized placing reliance on the 1998 census instead of the new population data. The ECP has explicitly cautioned that such polls will be challenged in a superior court, fearing that the exercise may be declared null and void.

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) are insisting that the old census should be made applicable.

Ironically, when Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq hosted a meeting of all the political parties, also including the PPP and MQM-P, to evolve a consensus on the constitutional amendment, all promptly agreed to it. It was also noted in the amendment bill that the parliamentary players are unanimous to pass the amendment.

The PPP and MQM-P can only explain what prompted them to change their trajectory, rocking the consensus, after the bill was moved in the National Assembly. All of a sudden, they started harping on a new stand that the matter should be referred to the Council of Common Interests (CCI) and the new census was not acceptable because the population of Sindh has been shown less than actual.

None of them had even slightly referred to these objections in the deliberations chaired by the speaker. Never before the constitutional amendment was tabled in the National Assembly, the PPP and MQM-P protested over the fresh census as vigorously as they have been doing now. It raises questions about their approach they have abruptly adopted.

Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan is reiterating his demand for snap elections and so is being done by his spokesmen. However, four days ago, PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi declared that his party wants the next polls on the scheduled time. But after Imran Khan’s announcement, he too changed his stance, saying that since the government has become dysfunctional, immediate polls were necessitated.

The PTI is not saying this, but its demand for early elections in reality resembles with the stand taken by the PPP and MQM-P in the sense that all of them want the use of the 1998 census for fresh polls. But according to the ECP, new elections are not possible on the old data and without relying on the 2017 figures. Even if the constitutional amendment is passed in a couple of days for which there is no likelihood the ECP would have a tight timeline to meet the deadline of organizing the polls in August.

If the PTI’s demand for quick elections is accepted for which there is not even a remote possibility, the 1998 census has to be used, which will obviously give rise to a host of problems discussed earlier. Additionally, it is always the prerogative of the government of the day to organize the general polls before time.