ISLAMABAD, Jan 24: The Supreme Court ruling suspending upcoming by-elections violates the fundamental rights of at least four million citizens who will be without elected representation for an undefined period, a civil society organisation said here on Tuesday.

On January 19, the court ruled that by-elections cannot be held on the vacant seats of national and provincial assemblies because the electoral roll is “bogus” and “unverified”. However, these same voter lists were used in the 2008 general elections, said Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen).

“Until the new electoral roll is finalised, the current roll cannot and should not be suspended as is clear from the statutes governing the electoral roll.

Doing so will disenfranchise more than two million registered voters and four million citizens in violation of their fundamental rights protected by the country’s constitution and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which Pakistan ratified in 2010,” a spokesman for the organisation said.

The ruling will immediately affect by-elections scheduled in eight constituencies: five vacant National Assembly seats (NA-9 Mardan-I, NA-140 Kasur-III, NA-148, Multan-I, NA-149 Multan-II and NA-195 Rahimyar Khan-IV), two Punjab Assembly seats (PP-18 Attock-IV and PP-44 Mianwali-II) and one Sindh Assembly seat (PS-57 Badin-I), he said. — A Reporter