ISLAMABAD: In what appeared to be a face-saving exercise, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday decided to treat the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz nominees for the Senate elections as independent candidates.

After Wednesday’s Supreme Court order declaring Nawaz Sharif ineligible to remain PML-N chief following his disqualification from holding a public office on July 28 last year and thus taking away his powers to issue party tickets to electoral candidates, the ECP was confronted with a unique challenge.

To deal with the peculiar situation, the limited choices available with the ECP were either to cancel all nominations and seek them afresh or to simply exclude all PML-N ticket-holders from the race, but it found a middle way — without citing any rule. Another option was to allow PML-N chairman Raja Zafarul Haq to sign the party tickets, but this too was not done by them and the plea was turned down.

When contacted, a senior ECP official said the decision had been taken to protect the rights of the candidates otherwise eligible to contest Senate polls and to ensure timely holding of the elections. He conceded that there were no rules available for a situation that had emerged for the first time in the country’s electoral history, but asserted that it was the only option.

Raja Zafar’s plea to sign tickets for PML-N Senate poll candidates turned down

The commission in its order said that since the Supreme Court had declared all the directives issued by Nawaz Sharif illegal with effect from July 28, 2017, the validity of the candidates nominated by him required elucidation by the ECP.

It said that in order to ensure that the rights of the candidates were not affected by the Supreme Court order, the commission mulled four options for smooth and timely Senate elections.

The options were: (1) to postpone the forthcoming election of the Senate and by-elections for PP-30 Sargodha-III and PS-7 Ghotki-III, (2) election be held on time to the exclusion of the candidates nominated by the PML-N, (3) extension of time to the candidates affected as a result of order of the august court to produce fresh party affiliation certificates, and (4) to treat the candidates affected as a result of the court order as independent candidates, as to hold election on time.

About the option one, the ECP said it was of the opinion that for smooth running of democracy and to protect the rights of the candidates and political parties affected as a result of the SC order, it would be fair to continue with the election schedule of the Senate and by-elections. The postponement of elections was not considered viable for the democratic process in the country.

About the option two, the commission was of the opinion that exclusion of nominees from the lists of contesting candidates who were otherwise eligible to contest the respective elections would not be fair for them to disqualify them on the grounds that the person who nominated them was himself disqualified. Had these candidates not obtained the party tickets from Nawaz Sharif, they would have stood eligible as independent or from the platform of other political parties to contest the elections. These candidates became ineligible on account of operation of law.

In order to provide a level-playing field, the commission considered that exclusion of the candidates from the election process would amount to injustice and deprivation to these candidates.

Referring to the option three, the ECP said it considered that all the steps involved in the election process as per schedule were regulated in terms of provisions provided in the Elections Act, 2017, and the rules framed thereunder. Except the polling, the entire process has been completed and, therefore, any extension in the time of schedule will amount to deviation from the prescribed procedure, as provided under the law.

“After having gone through the preceding options and not finding them feasible, the fourth option of treating the affected candidates be considered as independent candidates in order to conduct election on time…” the ECP order read.

“The affected candidates are, therefore, treated as independent candidates and the respective Returning Officers are directed to revise Form-33 and Form-54 of the list of contesting candidates accordingly,” it added.

Analysts are of the opinion that since the electoral college remains the same, the independent candidates — who had previously submitted the PML-N tickets — will comfortably win the seats they were eyeing with no bar on joining the party after emerging victorious.

They point out that in the Punjab Assembly the PML-N had a majority of 310 in a house of 371, leaving no room for any backdoor political manoeuvring for staging an upset.

Former ECP secretary Kanwar Dilshad said the commission’s decision to declare PML-N candidates as independent candidates was in contradiction to the Supreme Court verdict.

Speaking at a TV programme, Mr Dilshad said as per the SC judgement all decisions taken by Nawaz Sharif in his capacity as the PML-N chief stood cancelled, including candidature of those nominated for the Senate elections. He said that under ECP rules and regulations, there was no room for changing the affiliation of a candidate.

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2018