Impediment in disposal of petitions by ECP removed

ISLAMABAD: A hurdle obstructing the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from expeditiously disposing of petitions filed with it has been dispensed with through an amendment to the poll law.

The Elections Act, 2017, has been changed for the purpose. The amendment was initiated in the Senate, which passed it last year, realising the negative impact of the obstacle facing the ECP. Sometime back, the bill was also moved and passed in the National Assembly as no parliamentary party has any objection to it.

The ECP will now be able to attend to a number of complaints, applications, petitions and appeals received by it. Several complaints are generally lodged during the general elections or by-polls by the candidates and contesting parties. Appeals relate to the decisions of the returning officers. Petitions are submitted seeking disqualifications of poll contestants or elected representatives on various charges.

At times, issues of registration of political parties are also disputed before the ECP while their deregistration is also pressed before it. Under the Elections Act, all the political parties that want to contest any election have to be registered with the ECP. All sorts of pleas raised before the ECP pile up its workload, which is required to be dealt with by the CEC and four ECP members.

In its report, the standing committee on law and justice approved the amendment as received from the Senate. It was sponsored by the government in the Lower House of Parliament.

It changed Section 6 of the Elections Act, which says the chief election commissioner (CEC) shall constitute benches comprising three or more members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hear and decide complaints, applications, petitions or appeals submitted to it under this law.

Legal experts pointed out that not more than one bench could be established under the Elections Act by having three or more members in the panel because the ECP has a total of five former judges – one CEC and four members.

This caused difficulty in forming more benches. At present, the ECP comprises three members --one CEC and two members--after the retirement of two members from Sindh and Balochistan and in the absence of nomination of their replacements.

The standing committee unanimously recommended that the bill as passed by the Senate be approved by the National Assembly. The amendment provided that the ECP bench will comprise two members instead of three. This will enable the ECP to have at least two benches at the same time.

The report said that Section 6(3) authorises the ECP to constitute a bench comprising three or more members to hear and decide complaints, applications, petitions or appeals etc. but due to this provision only one bench can be formed since the total number of the ECP, including the chairman (CEC) is five.

It said the ECP was, therefore, facing immense difficulty in disposing of higher number of complaints, petitions or appeals through a single bench. Hence the instant amendment was necessary to take immediate action to facilitate the ECP for constitution of more benches to effectively dispose of such pleas.