Supreme Court of Pakistan. – File Photo

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission appeared to be on a path of confrontation with the Supreme Court on Monday when Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Hamid Ali Mirza said that the court’s decision to put by-elections on hold till preparation of error-free electoral rolls was a violation of the Constitution.

Speaking at a consultative meeting with leaders of political parties and representatives of civil society, the CEC said it was a constitutional requirement to hold by-election within 60 days of a seat falling vacant.

He said it was not humanly possible to meet the Feb 23 deadline set by the Supreme Court to finalise electoral rolls.

Holding of elections was a responsibility of the commission under Article 218 of the Constitution and, under Article 219, the ECP was bound to prepare electoral rolls.

Hamid Mirza said that after the appointment of four members from the provinces, an independent and autonomous commission was now in place and taking all possible measures for holding elections to the satisfaction of the nation.

“If any other institution of the state is to hold elections, as we see some quarters expressing such desire through media, then the right course is to make amendments to the Constitution. Otherwise, such desire will be violation of the Constitution,” he said.

The CEC said that under the Electoral Rolls Act of 1974, it was a responsibility of the Election Commission to prepare electoral rolls as might be deemed necessary. “We will prepare the electoral rolls as we deem fit.”

He said if the desire prevailed and an inaccurate electoral roll was prepared on the directives of some other quarter, the responsibility would not be on the commission.

Justice (retd) Hamid Mirza recalled that about 37 million entries remained unverified in 2007 because the commission was given only one month to complete the process of electoral rolls.

He was of the opinion that every organ of the state should remain within its respective domain. “Any attempt by any organ of the state to disturb this balance of powers will lead to anarchy.”

He stressed that the constitutional status of the Election Commission must be respected by all other institutions because any attempt by any quarter to encroach upon the functions entrusted to the ECP would not only be a violation of the Constitution
but also negation of the concept of an independent commission.

NADRA CHIEF: The chairman of National Database Registration Authority (Nadra) informed the meeting that the preparation of electoral rolls would not be possible before May 25. He said it was a gigantic task because now 14 million entries were to be
made, and not a mere four million as earlier estimated.

The briefing worked and the ECP, baffled by the Feb 23 deadline, won sup-port of around a dozen political parties in and outside parliament and civil society for developing error-free electoral rolls even if the work required a few more months.

Except for the PML-N, Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf and Jamaat-i-Islami, all other parties agreed with the position taken by the ECP and Nadra. They said that minutes of the meeting could be sent to the Supreme Court with a request not to “insist on an unrealistic deadline” for completing the complex exercise.

The meeting was attended, among others, by PML-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and secretary general Mushahid Hussain, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Leader of the House in Senate Nayyar Hussain Bokhari, Liaquat Baloch of Jamaat-i-Islami, National Party chief Dr Abdul Malik Baloch, Iqbal Zafar Jhagra and Anushe Rehman of the PML-N and PPP (Sherpao) leader Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli.