The New Year sun of 1970 dawned with a new enthusiasm in Pakistan’s politics. The ban on political activities had gone and everyone felt optimistic about the development, except the few unfortunate events that took place after the polls. The political parties had been allowed to launch their electioneering which put the whole nation on the move. All big and small political groups joined the race.

To express his intention of holding free and fair elections, Yahya Khan took many decisions. Perhaps he wanted to wash the stains the army-led administration had cast during the past 11 years. In implementing his plan and giving a legal cover to his forthcoming actions, he announced a Legal Framework Order, 1970 (LFO) on March 30, 1970. The LFO was a provisional constitution and had many guidelines to hold elections and set the future character of the newly-elected assembly.

It said the new assembly would consist of 300 members plus 13 seats reserved for women. The distribution of seats was made on this formula: East Pakistan 162 general and 7 reserved seats, Punjab 82 and 3 respectively, Sindh 27 and 1 respectively, Balochistan 4 and 1 respectively; and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) got 7 general seats.

Through the LFO the assembly was asked to frame a constitution within 120 days; provinces were pledged provincial autonomy within the ambit of the federation so that the integrity of the country was not jeopardised. The federal government would be named the Islamic Republic of Pakistan; it should preserve Islamic ideology and its head should necessarily be a Muslim. All citizens would enjoy fundamental human rights.

There were opposing opinions also about various aspects of the LFO, but there were four areas in which legal experts had substantive reservations. These were: the LFO said that if the Constituent Assembly could not frame a constitution within the stipulated time the Assembly would stand dissolved and new elections held; the president would reject any constitution framed by the Assembly if it did not meet the requirements mentioned in the LFO; the president would have the power to interpret and amend the Constitution; and that his decision could not be challenged in any court of law.

Since electioneering had been allowed from New Year’s day, all political forces were engaged in promoting their manifestos and busy in attracting their supporters. But polarisation appeared so intense that the slide in the vote bank could be seen from the crowds. Mainly there were two parties — the Awami League (AL) in East Pakistan and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in the western wing. Without going into any academic interpretation the results could be forecast.

While the AL drew its popularity from its six-point programme, the PPP had a new social and economic programme that was sending shockwaves through the established and traditional power bastions in the western wing. The Yahya administration was not unaware of the situation, but wanted to prove the credibility of its pledge for holding free and fair polls.

Yahya had already asked Justice Abdus Sattar to prepare electoral rolls within the given time. Since it was the first ever general election in the country on one-man one-vote basis there was no previous data hence caution was taken to coordinate all functions of the Election Commission. The first task was the preparation of the electoral rolls including the names of those who had attained the age of 21 years on October 1, 1969. The first draft was displayed on January 16, 1970 and with minor corrections the final list appeared on March 17.

The electoral rolls spoke of the possible result of the polls. The number of total registered voters in the country was shown to be 56,941,500, out of which 31,211,220 were in the eastern wing and 25,730,280 were in the western wing. The temper in East Pakistan was quite obvious that if AL took the eastern vote bank en bloc it would leave no chance for any leader in the western wing even if all parties and groups clubbed together. Nonetheless, elections do offer all kinds of chances.

The Yahya team had planned to hold the general elections on October 5 for National Assembly and October 19 for provincial assemblies.

However, a severe cyclone and flood hit East Pakistan. It was a dreadful calamity. Most of the loss was incurred by the absence of any early warning system. More tragic was the slow process of relief work.

According to a conservative estimate more than 300,000 people died and loss to the crops and other infrastructure stood at $15 billion. Shaikh Mujib was shocked over the devastation but he did not want postponement of the elections which, according to him, would offer a chance to the rulers to evade polls. He accepted the holding of elections on December 7 and 17.

The election process was in full swing and people waited for change eagerly, which could be the first through the ballot.

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