• ECP officials asked to spell out measures against corrupt practices in Senate polls • AG suggests party heads be allowed to ask for traceable ballot after elections

ISLAMABAD: Amid the ongoing controversy over the sale and purchase of tickets and corrupt practices in the upcoming Senate elections, the Supreme Court on Monday called Chief Election Commissioner Sikander Sultan Raja to explain steps the election body is putting in place to ensure free, fair and transparent elections.

“We direct the CEC and other members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to appear before the court on Tuesday and provide what scheme they have for holding the elections to guard against corrupt practices,” ordered Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed while heading a five-judge Supreme Court bench hearing a presidential reference on open ballot for Senate elections.

The directions were issued when during the course of hearing a reference was made towards Article 218(3) as well as 213(3) of the Constitution, which empowers the ECP to ensure the elections are held in a free, fair, transparent and that corrupt practices are guarded against.

Calling Barrister Sajeel Shaharyar Swati representing the ECP, the apex court asked how the commission would ensure complete transparency in the election process. The counsel cited Chapter 10 of the Election Act 2017 to establish that complete machinery was available with the commission to ensure free and fair elections.

Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan, however, wondered how many politicians had been disqualified in the past by the commission for indulging in corrupt practices.

Justice Bandial wondered whether the ECP was sleeping or awake when video clips showing lawmakers receiving money for selling their votes was released.

Justice Ahsan referred to Article 218 of the Constitution, which placed an obligation on the ECP to ensure that corrupt practices were guarded against but wondered when the commission did not have laws in their hands, how it would be materialized.

Attorney General Khalid Jawed Khan said the recent ordinance on the Senate elections was in fact a tool in the hands of the ECP to ensure purity in the coming elections.

“How do you define secret ballot?” Justice Ahsan wondered before questioning the ECP if secrecy ends after balloting and when the corrupt practices were an offence and there was no immunity against criminality, whether the commission could go back, investigate and punish in case of corrupt practices during the elections.

Justice Ahsan remarked if there was any small window through which the ECP could go back for investigation when there was a complaint of corrupt practices. The commission must have the authority to have identification for further investigation after the elections, Justice Ahsan said.

“This is an interesting proposition,” the attorney general added, reiterating that elections should be done in a manner that a ballot remained identifiable after elections.

The AG suggested the court that secrecy could be maintained during the casting of votes but a party head could be allowed to ask for ballot if there was a need after the elections.

Backing the suggestion, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Advocate General Shumail Butt highlighted that secrecy had to be maintained only on the day of polling and not afterwards.

Earlier at the outset of the hearing on Monday, the attorney general regretted that the Pakistan Bar Council and the Sindh High Court Bar Association had moved applications and the latter even adopted a resolution condemning the filing of the presidential reference before the Supreme Court.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2021