The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notice to Attorney General for Pakistan over dysfunctional Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) as its members are yet to be appointed by the government. Taking a suo motu notice of the issue, Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali has also issued directives to the fixation branch of the apex court to fix the identical matters in Court for July 14 (today).
Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali has taken the notice in response to news items carried by national press which pointed out that after completion of the term of members of the ECP, it is unable to perform constitutional duties. "Consequently, various election processes including holding of elections against the vacant seats in the National and Provincial Assemblies, Local Government elections, issuance of notification of returned candidates and various other processes are not being completed, and the timelines provided therefore are not being followed in accordance with Constitution and the law", the Chief Justice said while taking the notice.
Meanwhile, earlier during the course of the day, resuming the hearing of the plea of the ECP seeking more time to hold mayoral election in the Sindh province, a two-member bench of the Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Justice Azmat Saeed Sheikh questioned delay of population census in the country saying government was not paying heed over such an important task. Expressing dismay over dysfunctional ECP the Chief Justice of Pakistan observed as to why the Commission members have not been appointed so far.
Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali remarked that government failure to fulfil constitutional duty for filling the slots of the ECP members from six months can't be tolerated. Terming the population census in the country as back bone in the elections, Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali said since 2008 the census was due, adding that there was friendly firing in the matter because countries cannot run the affairs in such manners.
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