ISLAMABAD: Senators belonging to the Pakistan People’s Party on Tuesday questioned impartiality of the Election Commission of Pakistan and accused it of overstepping its constitutional mandate.

In hard-hitting speeches in the Senate, they alleged that like the Supreme Court, the ECP had started making decisions under pressure from media in violation of laws.

Discussing the ECP’s role on an adjournment motion moved by PPP’s Saeed Ghani, the treasury members also assailed the judiciary and the media.

The Senate debate took place at a time when the five-year term of the government is to expire in three days and the ECP is about to announce the schedule for the general election.

Chaudhry Jaffar Iqbal of the PML-N feared that the tussle between the government and the ECP could lead to a delay in the general election.

Initiating the debate, Saeed Ghani criticised the ECP for its decision to publish the amended nomination forms without getting permission of President Asif Ali Zardari and alleged that the commission was making decisions which did not fall in its jurisdiction.

The senator expressed surprise over a sudden change in the ECP’s decision, saying its secretary had announced on Monday that if the president did not approve the changes in the nomination forms till midnight, the commission would have no option but to go for the printing of old forms. But later the ECP came out with an explanation that the president’s approval was just a formality and that it was authorised to make any decision to ensure fair and transparent elections, he said.

“Already sick of arbitrary interpretation of the Constitution by the Supreme Court, we now have another institution taking to that,” Mr Ghani said. The ECP did not have unlimited powers and it was bound to hold elections under the existing laws, he added.

Saeed Ghani said the parliamentary committee on electoral reforms had worked hard to make the ECP independent and to prepare transparent voters’ list. The commission had made some proposals which were impractical. He also expressed surprise over interviews given by ECP members to newspapers, saying like judges, they could not interact with the media directly and they also could not meet politicians.

Mr Ghani claimed that he had information about some ECP members, but “I am silent because I am a member of the government party”.

He, however, threatened that if they did not show restrain, he would expose their “connections”.

The PML-N’s Jaffar Iqbal said that the ECP had sent amended nomination forms to the president for approval last month. There would be some reasons for the delay in the approval by the Presidency, he said.

The government wanted to delay the polls on the pretext of standoff with the ECP, the senator alleged, adding there was nothing wrong if the commission talked about stopping the corrupt and looters from entering parliament.

The PML-N senator, however, termed the amended nomination form complicated and suggested that the parliamentary committee should ask the commission to simplify it.

Another PPP senator, Kazim Khan, said Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim was an honest man, but he had no authority to declare someone corrupt or thief. He said in India even a known dacoit Phoolan Devi had become a member of parliament. He also lamented the role of media.

The Minister for Political Affairs, Maula Bakhsh Chandio, said that seeking approval of the president was not a formality, alleging that the ECP had violated the Constitution by bypassing the Presidency. He criticised the PML-N for supporting every act of the judiciary and the ECP only because of its enmity with the PPP, warning that tomorrow it would have to face the consequences.

Responding to the attacks on his party by Mr Chandio, PML-N’s Senator Mushahidullah Khan, who is also the party’s information secretary, said the PPP government was critical of the ECP whereas it had failed to resolve the country’s problems. He said the PPP had not arrested the killers of Benazir Bhutto and was not ready to implement the decision of the court on holding of dual offices by President Zardari.

Mr Khan said the ECP could have committed some mistakes, but there was no need for a hue and cry. He was of the opinion that only the corrupt and fake-degree holders should fear the ECP.

Earlier, the Senate passed the Federal Ombudsman Institutional Reforms Bill, 2013, and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2013, unanimously.

During the question hour, the Minister of State for Interior, Imtiaz Safdar Warraich, told the house that Pakistan’s loss in the war on terror had touched $69 billion and that the country had not received any amount under the Coalition Support Fund from the US.