ECP gets centre stage

That perception the government and the opposition hold of the present Election Commission of Pakistan and its capacity to deliver as an impartial entity do not match well is a fact. Even when they agreed on remodelling the commission's structure and its powers under the 18th Amendment their mismatch tends to persist. How sharp are their contrasting positions it is becoming increasingly known now that the tenure of the sitting Chief Election Commissioner is about to end and the new incumbent has to be appointed who would superintend next general election. Given myriad challenges to the imperative of holding a free, fair and transparent election, their conflicting positions on the existing electoral situation get all the more resistant to change. Simply stated, the political opposition is not comfortable with the composition of the ECP and wants the government to initiate a process, leading to the appointment of the next Chief Election Commissioner. Should the government persevere in its nonchalant approach, the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, has warned that his party, Pakistan Muslim League (N), will not support the passage of 20th Constitutional Amendment bill. The proposed amendment is on the table and has to be passed by February 6, 2012, as demanded by the Supreme Court, otherwise all 29 by-elections to federal and provincial legislatures held since the passage of the 18th Amendment will be declared illegal. How will the government react to this threat it is difficult to predict, but going by the track record of their disagreements over key appointments, the hope remains faint and feeble. There is no gainsaying that an absolutely autonomous and fiercely independent election commission is indispensable to a fuller realisation of people's aspiration to have a government of their own. Antithetically, a rigged election can plunge a polity into uncontrolled political instability. For all to see, we as a people seem to have arrived at the fork in our democratic march. How independent the Election Commission of Pakistan is - perceptions, more than any other consideration, matter here - it is going to be a big question mark as we prepare for the next general election. The danger of things going wrong in abundance, given that not only the composition of the ECP is being objected to by the political opposition, there are these tainted electoral rolls, unsettled issue of dual-nationality Pakistanis and questionable delimitation of constituencies. Then there is this dilemma of contrasting positions taken by the Supreme Court and the Election Commission on upcoming by-elections to four National Assembly and one provincial assembly seats. It won't be realistic to hope that all these shortcomings can be taken care of in time. But a positive progress inputting on ground an independent election commission will definitely help improve the electoral atmosphere. On good election, good in the sense it is free, fair and transparent, will greatly strengthen democratic credentials of our political parties and their leaders. It was one's thinking and expectation that while massively amending the Constitution, parliament would have looked into the problem of holding free and fair elections. Of course, that was done but not completely. While various Articles dealing with Elections were rewritten but perhaps, the specific problems that stem from our peculiar political culture remain. For instance, why the membership of the ECP has been confined only to the judges? In neighbouring India, that is a day younger than Pakistan in terms of their independent existence, membership of the Election Commission of India is open to all, and it is no secret that some of their bureaucrats performed better than judges. Another issue is tenure of ECP members. Before the passage of 18th Amendment it was three years, now it is five years but not applicable to present incumbents. A more practical solution could be fixing lifetime tenure ending with his/her superannuation. Copyright Business Recorder, 2012