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ISLAMABAD: In a strong and prompt rebuttal to a statement by the Chief Election Commissioner expressing disagreement on its verdict to postpone the Feb 20 by-elections, the Supreme Court reasserted on Monday that any election on the basis of existing faulty electoral rolls would be illegal.
“It is clarified that election on the basis of polluted/unverified voter list cannot be termed just, fair and in accordance with law, as required under Article 218(3) of the Constitution,” the Supreme Court explained in a statement issued by its Registrar Dr Faqir Hussain.
The clarification was issued after CEC Justice (retd) Hamid Ali Mirza termed ‘unconstitutional’ the apex court’s Jan 19 order in which it had asked the Election Commission not to hold Feb 20 by-elections on five National Assembly and one provincial assembly seats on the existing voters’ list.
“An erroneous impression has been created as if the Supreme Court had stayed the holding of by-elections on casual vacancies in the country,” the court’s clarification said, adding that in fact the court had directed the ECP not to hold by-elections on the basis of polluted/unverified voters’ list, after deleting over 37 million unverified voters by the National Database Registration Authority (Nadra) as per their statement before the Supreme Court on July 4 last year in the case of Imran Khan versus the Election Commission of Pakistan.
“The ultimate focus should be on verified/valid electoral list in order to meet the requirement of the Constitution under Article 218 (3) which stipulates that the election should be conducted honestly, fairly and justly in accordance with law,” the court said.
The Supreme Court also mentioned paragraphs of the Jan 19 order which said: “It has been informed that the Election Commission has announced by-elections in some of the constituencies on the basis of prevailing/uncorrected/un-amended electoral lists.
“It may not be out of context to note that on July 4, 2011, Nadra reported before this court that 37,185,998 unverified voters have been removed from the data base and, thereafter, we have directed on the same day to the Election Commission to expedite the correction of the electoral list and a schedule for the same was also given by it, but the Election Commission failed to do so.
“However, the date of Feb 23, 2012 has been fixed. Therefore, we direct the Election Commission and Nadra not to hold by-elections against the casual vacancies on the basis of polluted voter list.”
