No to polls on bogus lists

Strictly speaking, all 28 or so by-elections to the national and provincial legislatures since the passage of the 18th Amendment were illegal, but perhaps in the spirit of granting legitimacy to 'past and closed transitions' the Supreme Court asked the government to give them legal protection. For a good 15 months from April 2010 to July 2011 the Election Commission of Pakistan was short of its mandated strength and therefore these by-elections were an anomaly, and the apex court had ordered the government to rectify that mistake by amending the Constitution. Hence this 20th Amendment bill now before the parliament. Since both the government and the parliament were a beneficiary of this anomalous situation, there is no reason why the bill for the 20th Amendment would not be passed without much of debate - as was the reason for the quick passage of the 18th Amendment. Then, as in the case of these by-elections, the treasury and the opposition shared the incentive that the sitting members stand exempted from the application of some of the ethical and moral qualification/disqualification requirements. But no more, the Supreme Court told the Election Commission on Thursday. The court has ordered that February 20 by-elections to five National Assembly and one provincial assembly seats be postponed until new and verified voter lists are complete. Given that the voters' lists that were used to elect the present legislators are much too bogus and fake, with over 30 percent of listed voters being either fake or non-existent, no doubt what we have in terms of elected dispensation is so much unequal to the aspirations of the people. George Bernard Shaw once remarked: "Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve". If our electoral rolls are so fake and bogus there is just no chance of us holding free and fair elections and electing truly representative members to the legislatures. But to clean these Aegean stables is a huge challenge. The Supreme Court wants the Election Commission to have in readiness by February 23 thoroughly revised lists - not that elections are expected by then; the court fixed the deadline to put an end to the lingering procrastination on the part of the concerned departments. But there is still a strong possibility that these lists will not be completed by this deadline even when the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) is burning the midnight oil to prepare error-free lists. A way out of this challenge of time and space has been shown by the apex court; in that it said preference may be given to preparing error-free lists for constituencies if by-elections are to be held. We, as a people, have come to such a sorry pass in our national management for many reasons, but the one that tops this list is our failure to hold free and fair elections. Thanks to the thoroughly doctored electoral rolls, lavish campaigns, rigged polls and unqualified candidates the nation has never been able to send to the legislatures deserving people. Then there are curses of political cults, dynastic party leaderships, an unhealthy electoral culture, which tend to further undermine the will of the people. But the time for vote-grabbing tactics of that kind seems to have passed. The people of Pakistan are growing conscious of their right to elect the people of their choice, and should that right be subverted by traditional manipulators that would be furiously contested. When Imran Khan says his party will not accept the outcome of the rigged polls and shall 'jam' cities we should heed his warning. Post-election protests are now an international phenomenon which we may have in Pakistan should there be rigged elections. Copyright Business Recorder, 2012