Dysfunctional ECP

The 18th Constitutional Amendment did fully restore parliamentary democracy in Pakistan, but what it did not do keeps coming up, vitiating the atmospherics conducive to good governance. One such conundrum is its silence on the appointment of members of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), which is dysfunctional since Friday. The Chief Election Commissioner retired Thursday, while two ECP members retired long time back, depriving the institution of the required quorum. How ironic it is that Senator Raza Rabbani-led framers of the said amendment completely rewrote the relevant Article 213 but they didn't say anything in case there was dispute over the appointment of ECP members. Probably, given the then pervading bonhomie, both sides of the aisle in parliament were too optimistic to foresee possibility of disagreement on the appointment of members. Now that cheerful friendship is a thing of the past and the two sides of parliamentary aisle are generally at each other's throat the differences on appointment of members has come to the forefront as one of the critical challenges not only to putting in place a viable Election Commission of Pakistan but also the future of parliamentary democracy in Pakistan. There is no denying the fact that no constitution offers the kind of governance for all times to come, but this oversight on the part of framers of the 18th Amendment is simply unexplainable. And if it is there now then why doesn't the concerned parliamentary committee set a precedent by clinching consensus over appointments. The committee is expected to select three out of six nominees, and all the nominated are renowned public figures. All of them are apolitical. Choose any three out of the six, and the ECP would be functional once again. 'My nominee versus your nominee' approach tends to suggest as if the ECP is a political office, as against its mandated responsibility to organise and hold fair and free elections in the country. It is our hope that in its meeting on Monday, the parliamentary committee would firm up three names, and so in quorum the ECP will resume its normal work.

The national parliament's 'first-among-the-equal' institutional position the issue of ECP appointments should not, ideally, have gone to the court. But as it has, the members of parliamentary committee in particular and the rest of elected representatives in general must learn how the court looks at it. The IHC order says, "Intervention by the courts is neither desirable nor in consonance with the status of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) and the spirit of the Constitution in matters which exclusively fall within its domain. The elected representatives owe a duty to the people of Pakistan to uphold the dignity and supremacy of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament)." It added: "If there is a vacuum or gap in the procedure prescribed in the Constitution, it is an obligation of the members to find a solution because they have been elected by the people of Pakistan and empowered not only to legislate but to amend the Constitution as well." However, what the court did not say but one would like to say is that the present parliament has betrayed people. If the government hasn't done any worthwhile legislation it is because of the opposition's negative role in both the houses of parliament. If Constitution does not spell out ways to handle a disagreement over consensual appointment of ECP members then let the committee set a tradition.