The PTI said on Saturday that despite directives from the Islamabad High Court (IHC), Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) personnel were “absent” from polling locations around the city while locals voted for their representatives.
A day earlier, following a whirlwind of judicial processes, the IHC had ordered the ECP to hold local government elections in Islamabad today (Dec 31).
The decision, rendered by IHC Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir in response to appeals submitted by PTI and Jamaat-e-Islami, nullified the electoral body’s announcement on the delay of the elections.
In response to the incident, an ECP official told that it was “practically impossible” to hold elections on such short notice, even within Islamabad. Separately, the federal administration has opted to challenge the verdict within the court.
Saturday morning, the government and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) filed intra-court petitions against the ruling, but no hearing date has been set.
In the meantime, the PTI alleged that people had gathered outside voting locations in the city, despite the absence of election personnel.
In a tweet, Imran Khan, the leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), stated that the ECP had revealed itself to be the “B team of the imported administration and its backers” by failing to enforce IHC orders.
“PDM, in fear of the public, is avoiding all elections. The freedom to vote is a vital democratic principle to which the PTI is committed, he said.
Separately, in a video message released earlier today, Asad Umar, the general secretary of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), stated that his party’s personnel were there outside voting locations since morning, but no one from the electoral board appeared.
“This foreign administration is afraid of the people […] they flee anytime elections are held […] they manufacture excuses,” he asserted, asking to know why the ECP’s preparations were not complete.
Umar continued, “We want the court to launch contempt proceedings against the electoral commission and dismiss them.”
Fawad Chaudhry, a leader of the PTI, also urged the IHC to take action against the ECP.
He tweeted, “This government and its puppet electoral commission are making a mockery of the nation and the Constitution.”
Former human rights minister Shireen Mazari, on the other side, stated that the ECP should resign immediately for “playing politics with holding elections.”
The government files an intra-court appeal
Meanwhile, PML-N leader Tariq Fazal Chaudhry stated that the federal government’s legal team filed an intra-court appeal against yesterday’s ruling at the IHC early today.
He told reporters in Islamabad that the administration honored court rulings but that municipal elections could not be held in a single day.
“We will adhere to the outcome of the next court decision,” Chaudhry stressed.
The petition stated that the IHC’s decision was “tenable on both a legal and factual level” because it was not based on “ground realities.”
“The honorable has not understood that holding local government elections on the scheduled day, i.e. Dec 31, was virtually impossible because the judgment was issued at 5 p.m. on Dec 30, and elections were ordered to be performed the next day.”
According to the petition, the court missed several factual and legal issues submitted by the appellants when issuing the orders.
It noted that the order failed to recognize that the ECP is a constitutional body that “should not be treated as an executive body by issuing directives.”
“The 30 December contested ruling is based on a misreading, misconstruction, and misapplication of laws and facts.”
In the appeal, the federal government also promised the court that it, along with the ECP, will conduct the elections within the “proper length of time” and asked that yesterday’s judgment be “set aside.”
IHC’s orders
Originally, the elections were supposed to take place on December 31. However, early this month the federal government expanded the number of union councils (UCs) in the capital from 101 to 125, thereby delaying the elections.
The ECP postponed the elections because they could not have been held without new delimitations.
On Friday, the IHC invalidated both the federal government’s decision and the ECP’s subsequent notification to delay the elections. Additionally, Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir ordered the federal government to assist the ECP in conducting elections.
In a lengthy ruling delivered today, the court stated, “The Federal Government was aware of the schedule issued by the ECP for the holding of local elections.”
“However, at the eleventh hour, hastily issued the notification dated 19.12.2022 based on questionable figures/information provided by the Administrator MCI, without recognizing that elections are scheduled to take place in twelve days.”
It noted that the federal government’s actions were contrary to the law and added that the ECP was responsible for conducting elections under the Constitution.
“The Courts are required to uphold the constitutional safeguards and preserve and protect the institutional imperatives of the ECP, except in cases involving illegality or harm to the public interest. If the provincial or federal government exceeded its legislative or executive jurisdiction to render the local government powerless, such action would violate Article 140A of the Constitution and be subject to judicial review, the IHC argued.
Consequently, it added, the ECP notification was not legally tenable and was subject to annulment.
Before the 19th of December, when the federal cabinet authorized a summary to increase the number of UCs, both the candidates and the ECP were astonished by the postponement of the elections.
The law was subsequently passed in a hastily called session of the National Assembly on December 22.
