ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission has approved formation of 14 election tribunals in the provinces to decide disputes during general elections.

Addressing a press conference after a meeting presided over by Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim on Friday, EC Secretary Ishtiak Ahmad Khan said the commission had decided to set up five election tribunals in Punjab and three each in other provinces.

The tribunals will decide election disputes within 120 days of filing of a petition. Mr Khan said that previously sitting district and sessions judges were appointed to act as election tribunals but because of workload it was not possible for them to do the job within the stipulated time. Therefore, he added, the commission had decided to use the services of retired judges.

Initially, the tribunals will be appointed for one year but the duration can be extended to another year. The commission comprising the CEC and four provincial members selected 10 retired district and sessions judges each from the four provinces from panels of names sent to it by the registrars of high courts.

Mr Khan said the commission had rejected a proposal by civil society to place electoral rolls on the web. The rolls contain important data and could not be put on the web because of security concerns, he added.

He said it was the most important meeting of the commission in terms of consolidating one action plan, giving final touches to it, tying up loose ends and fixing target dates for completion of all activities and tasks to be performed by a team supposed to conduct elections under the guidance of the commission.

Mr Khan said the elections were about 200 days away because the present assemblies would complete their terms on March 17 next year

He said if a decision was taken to hold elections before that date, the commission would have only 90 days to do the job. “That means we do not have much time and have to be ready in all respects within the next two to three months.”

Once the general elections were announced, he said, the commission’s secretariat would just be following another long list of standard operating procedures.

In reply to a question about the talk of holding local government polls before the general elections, Mr Khan said the commission would meet its constitutional obligation as and when a request was received from a province.

He said the commission had been pursuing the provincial governments for two years to enact necessary legislations, delimit constituencies and give their opinions on relevant points. But, he added, only two provinces had passed legislations.

The secretary said the commission had not yet received a request from any province for holding local government elections.

However, he said, the commission was ready to meet its constitutional obligation even if a single province made such a request.

Mr Khan said the commission would hold a meeting with the local government departments of the provinces next month and meet major political parties on Sept 27 to discuss matters relating to preparation for the general elections and finalise the code of conduct for political parties.

He said the commission would also prepare code of conduct for civil society, media and election observers.