In line with the deadline issued by the Supreme Court (SC), the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday submitted a report to the top court on whether the government had provided it with the funding to conduct elections in Punjab.

The report was submitted with the SC’s Registrar’s Office in a sealed envelope.

The April 11 date for the report — as ordered by the court last week — followed the April 10 deadline that was set for the government to disburse funds to the commission for the polls.

The government has so far not issued the funds for polls and instead referred the matter of election funds to Parliament. The bill was referred to a standing committee and lawmakers are set to reconvene on Thursday.

Last week, the apex court had fixed May 14 as the date for the polls in Punjab and directed the federal government to release election funds worth Rs21 billion to the ECP by April 10 for elections in Punjab and KP.

It had also instructed the election commission to file a report in the chambers of the three-judge bench — comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar — by April 11 (today) stating whether the said funds had been provided and received.

“If the funds have not been provided or there is a shortfall, as the case may be, the court may make such orders and give such directions as are deemed appropriate to such person or authority as necessary in this regard,” the top court had said in its order.

ECP seeks changes to elections law to save ‘eroding writ’

Meanwhile, the ECP has raised alarm over judicial overbearing diluting its writ and proposed legislation to do away with the president’s role in determining the date for general polls.

A day earlier, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja wrote letters to National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, proposing amendments to Sections 57 (1) and 58 of the Elections Act, 2017, sources told Dawn.

Letters on similar lines, signed by ECP Secretary Omar Hamid Khan, were also sent to the principal secretary to the prime minister and secretary for parliamentary affairs.

Under the proposed amendments, the ECP wants its power back to announce and alter the election schedule at any stage without any intervention by a third party.

“Section 11 of the original (peoples’ representation) Act of 1976 empowered the Commission to announce poll date unilaterally without any trace of intervention by a third party. The Section was amended through Ordinance No. 11 of 1985 (12.1.1985) with the sole object to create the role of the President to hold the elections at the whims of one man,” say the identical letters, seen by Dawn.

“The role of the president to appoint a date for poll in case of dissolution of the National Assembly on the advice of the prime minister or the dissolution of the National Assembly on expiry of the term, is not supported by any constitutional provision,” one of the letters points out.

It mentions that the Supreme Court while interpreting Article 224(2), held that the conduct of general elections within 90 days was a constitutional imperative.

“It is settled and trite law that Constitution shall be read as a whole document for harmonious interpretation and no provision should be read in isolation, lest it may result in redundancy of some other important provision of the Constitution. However, due weightage has not been given to another constitutional imperative provided in Article 218(3) which, if not implemented in letter and spirit, may result in abnegation of the standards set under it,” it says.

The CEC said the conduct of the election was dependent upon the necessary arrangements to be made by the ECP to ensure that the standards of honesty, justness, and fairness provided in Article 218(3) are met.

The CEC noted the March 1 and April 5 judgements divested the ECP of its constitutional powers to determine whether conducive environment in fact and circumstances, existed for the conduct of elections in a given time, to meet the standards mentioned in Article 218(3) in letter and spirit.

He argued that the writ of the ECP had systematically been challenged on several occasions. “In practice, ECP’s authority has been eroded,” he remarked.

“There are many other such incidents of judicial overbearing, which have diluted the writ of the ECP. In such a situation where the ECP writ has been time and again perceptibly compromised, the question arises whether the ECP can perform its bedrock duty to conduct free, fair, and transparent elections to the best of its ability in the given environment.”

Govt defies SC orders

On Tuesday, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar tabled a bill in the National Assembly and Senate seeking the release of funds for holding elections in Punjab and KP.

The bill, titled ‘Charged Sum for General Election (Provincial Assemblies of Punjab & Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) Bill 2023’, stated that funds required for conducting elections in both the provinces shall be “an expenditure charged upon the Federal Consolidated Fund (FCF)”, which it said comprises all revenues received by the federal government, all loans raised by the government and all money received by it in repayment of any loan.

The bill stated that it shall “override other laws” and have effect “notwithstanding anything contained in any other law, rules and regulations” when it was in force.

It added that the proposed law would stand repealed once elections for both the assemblies were held, noting that the general elections and polls to the Sindh and Balochistan assemblies need not be held for it to be repealed.