ISLAMABAD: The government got a breather from the Supreme Court on Thursday as the deadline set for the appointment of the chief election commissioner (CEC) was extended till Nov 24.

This, the third extension granted by the court, come a day after Finance Minister Ishaq Dar’s statement that the appointment of the top election official would not be possible by the deadline of Nov 13 given by the court, since consultations between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah had not been completed. Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk, who is heading a three-judge Supreme Court bench that had taken up the protracted delay in holding local government elections, reiterated the court’s earlier warning that it would withdraw acting CEC Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

Irked by government dilly-dallying in conducting the long overdue local government elections, the Supreme Court had first set Oct 28 as the deadline for the government. This was then extended to Nov 13.

The names of former Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, former senior-most SC judge Justice Rana Bhagwandas and retired justices Nasir Aslam Zahid and Tariq Parvez were said to have been considered in consultations between the government and the opposition leader. But the situation became complicated when both Justice Bhagwandas and Justice Jillani declined the offer one after the other.

On Thursday, when the case was taken up, Attorney General Salman Aslam Butt requested the apex court for more time since the consultative process had been initiated, but could not be completed because the prime minister was abroad, while the opposition leader also intended to leave for the UK for medical reasons.

The PM and the opposition leader had finalised three names, but two of them expressed reservations against being named the next CEC, the AG submitted, assuring the court that a CEC would hopefully be appointed by Nov 24.

Local government polls

Referring to the local government elections in the country, the court ordered the ECP to make arrangements to hold local bodies elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa before next spring.

Simultaneously, the court directed Additional Advocate General K P Waqar Khan to consult the provincial government on whether it wanted to hold local government elections utilising biometric voter verification systems in one district as a pilot project, or in the entire province.

The chief justice recalled that it had been decided during his time as acting CEC that, as a first step, local government elections will be conducted via biometric systems in one district as a pilot, which if successful, would be replicated in the entire province.

The KP AAG explained that the provincial government wanted to use the biometric system to make the local bodies elections credible, adding that ECP had already assured the KP government that the biometric system would be installed in the province by March or April.

On holding local government elections in all 43 cantonments of the country, Deputy Attorney General Sajid Ilyas Bhatti told the court that an ordinance to amend the Cantonments Boards Act 1924 was pending with the National Assembly and after its approval, the ECP would be empowered to conduct local bodies elections in the cantonments.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2014