ISLAMABAD: Irked by government’s dilly-dallying in holding the long-overdue local government elections, the Supreme Court on Tuesday warned that it would withdraw its judge – who is currently serving as the interim chief election commissioner (CEC) – if the post was not filled permanently by Oct 28.

“It has been made clear to the attorney general that if the appointment is not made within the timeframe, we will consider withdrawing the Supreme Court judge from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP),” observed Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk after the day’s proceedings. The chief justice was heading the three-member Supreme Court bench that had taken up the matter of the protracted delay in holding local government elections.

Legal observers believe that the withdrawal of the acting CEC could kick off a constitutional crisis since it would render the ECP incomplete, making the possibility of any by-elections under its aegis questionable.

So annoyed was the Supreme Court with the excuses offered by the provincial governments, one after the other, that it threatened to summon the chief ministers of Punjab and Sindh if they failed to complete the legislative process authorising the ECP to carry out the delimitation process for LG polls within two days.

Currently, Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali is serving as acting CEC. Justice Jamali replaced the current chief justice in that office when he was sworn in on July 23 as the third acting CEC in less than a year.

Both former CJP Jillani and serving CJP Mulk have served in an interim capacity after Fakharuddin G. Ebrahim resigned on July 30, 2013 as the 13th CEC. His resignation came soon after the Supreme Court’s verdict, amending the schedule for the presidential elections on a petition filed by a PML-N legislator. Since the court did not hear any other party before making the decision, Mr Ebrahim considered the ruling an encroachment of the ECP’s domain.

Earlier in the day, Attorney General (AG) Salman Aslam was told by the court to inform it about the government’s intentions regarding the appointment of a permanent CEC.

Later, the AG told the court that the government needed 35 days to get the post filled since it could not be done without consulting the opposition leader.

“Consultations do not take this long, it is only between two individuals,” the chief justice observed, adding the court would grant only two more weeks.

But the AG asked for three weeks – a request that was turned down by the court.

“We will give you only two weeks because the Supreme Court order to appoint the permanent CEC was issued a year ago but no progress has so far been made on it,” the chief justice said.

Local body elections

Referring to local body polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Supreme Court ordered KP Advocate General Abdul Lateef Yousufzai to hold a meeting with the ECP by Thursday and discuss a poll schedule. The schedule chalked out in the meeting should be submitted to the Supreme Court by Monday, the court ordered.

The court also made it clear that its March 20 judgment of allowing ECP to carry out delimitations does not apply to KP, since it was meant specifically for Sindh and Punjab. If the provincial government really wanted to legislate on delimitation, it should be for the future only.

When Mr Yousufzai explained that the provincial government intended to hold local government elections in three phases to ensure security and to utilise biometric systems, the court firmly asked him to forget about biometrics and hold the meeting with the ECP.

Sindh Advocate General Fateh Malik told the bench that the provincial government had prepared a draft bill for amending local government laws, but the province’s governor, hailing from a rival party, had returned it after hanging on to it for three months.

The court ordered the provincial government to table the legislation in the provincial assembly by Oct 16, or the Sindh chief minister would be held responsible.

The same order was repeated for Punjab when Additional Advocate General Razzaq A. Mirza explained that the provincial government would amend the law on delimitations only after the federal government did the same.

At this, Justice Ijaz Chaudhry asked whether the law officer wanted to implement the court’s directives or not.

Later in the evening, two ordinances were promulgated by the federal government to amend the Delimitation of Constituencies Act 1974 and the Electoral Rolls Act 1974, allowing the ECP to delimit constituencies for the local government elections.

The ordinances empowered the commission to take steps and measures, in the discharge of its functions, or adopt rules, laws and procedures, make or adapt electoral rolls for effectively carrying out the local government elections.

They also allow the commission to divide each local government into separate territorial constituencies.

An ordinance empowers the commission to regulate its own procedures and also authorise one or more of its members, acting singly or together, to exercise and perform all or any of its powers and functions.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2014