Upcoming Senate elections

ECP sticks to timeframe of poll schedule

By Tariq Butt

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is sticking to its old timeframe for holding elections to half of the Senate and has not advanced the poll schedule as once publicly desired by Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Polling is to take place in early March, days before the newly elected senators take oath on March 11.

On February 11, the ECP will release the election schedule that will spell out different phases of the electoral process. Under the Elections Act, 2017, the ECP is the sole authority to organise elections to the Senate. The process is spread over various phases that will take about a month to conclude if the 2018 election schedule is any guide.

In the previous Senate elections, the ECP had publicised the schedule on February 2, 2018 and polling had taken place on March 3 in the four provincial assemblies. These proceedings consumed almost a month. The ECP had released a separate schedule, spanning 28 days, for the election of two senators by the National Assembly.

The existing legal and constitutional scheme allows the Senate election within a month before the term of the retiring MPs ends. According to Article 224(3) of the Constitution, elections to fill the Senate seats that fall vacant on the expiration of the term of members will be held not earlier than 30 days immediately preceding the day on which the vacancies are due to occur. Thus, the election was not going to be held more than a month before the end of the term of the outgoing senators; it cannot be delayed beyond the expiry of such a tenure. In 2018, the oath was administered to the newly elected senators on March 11, starting their term.

The exercise involves the issuance of a notification by the ECP to fill the impending vacant seats and fixing the last dates for filing nomination papers, publication of the names of nominated candidates, scrutiny of candidacy papers, filing of appeals against acceptance/rejection of nominations, disposal of appeals by the election tribunal, publication of revised list of candidates and the withdrawal of candidatures.

The Elections Act says the Returning Officer (RO) “may, for the purpose of scrutiny, require any agency, authority or organisation, including a financial institution, to produce any document or record or to furnish any such information as may be necessary to determine facts relating to an objection to the candidature of a contestant. However, he will not ask any question which has no nexus with the information supplied in the paper; or has not arisen from the objections raised by any person or from information received during the scrutiny.

“The RO will question a candidate’s declaration that the aspirant is qualified to contest and has met the requirements of the poll law only if tangible material to the contrary is available on record. He may, either on his own motion or upon any objection, conduct such summary inquiry and reject a nomination paper if he is satisfied that the candidate is not qualified, the proposer or the seconder is not eligible to subscribe to the nomination paper; the law has not been complied with or the declaration is false or incorrect in any material particular and the signature of the proposer or seconder is not genuine. The RO will not reject a nomination paper on the ground of any defect which is not of a substantial nature and may allow any such defect to be remedied forthwith and will not inquire into the correctness or validity of any entry in the electoral roll.

“An appeal against scrutiny will be summarily decided within the time fixed by the ECP and any order so passed will be final. If, on the basis of information or material coming to its knowledge by any source, a tribunal is of the opinion that a candidate whose nomination has been accepted is a defaulter of loans, taxes, government dues and utility expenses or has had any loan written off or has wilfully concealed such fact or suffers from any other disqualification from being elected as a member of the Senate, it may, on its own motion, call upon him to show cause why his papers may not be rejected.” If the tribunal is satisfied that he is actually a defaulter or has had a loan written off or suffers from any disqualification, it may reject the nomination paper.