ISLAMABAD: Federal government is unlikely to retract from its electoral reforms agenda spearheaded by Prime Minister Imran Khan, but maybe willing to address Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) concerns on the electoral bills recently passed by the National Assembly. A cabinet member, requesting anonymity, told Business Recorder that government would not back off from legislation it introduced in the Parliament — notably Elections (Amendment) Bill 2021 and Elections (Second Amendment) Bill 2021 – passed by National Assembly and pending in the Senate.
“In the Constitution of Pakistan or even in election laws, there is no clause that binds the government to take ECP into confidence on any bill that deals with electoral matters, even if it directly concerns ECP. The ECP cannot complain of being left out in any legislation. It’s Parliament’s job to legislate — and whether it considers ECP’s input into this process or not is entirely up to Parliament,” the source said.
The government is reluctant to involve ECP in electoral reforms due to the latter’s ‘traditional’ opposition to the use of technology in elections, Business Recorder was told. “Recently, ECP posted a video on its social media accounts suggesting that the credibility of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) was farcical even before deliberations between ECP and the government over the use of EVMs in the next general elections had begun. Before that, we saw ECP strongly opposing open ballot system in Senate elections held in March this year. The ECP is also opposing government’s efforts to launch internet voting (i-voting) for overseas Pakistanis. There is a growing perception that ECP is opposed to introduction of technology to bring transparency in electoral practices. The onus of responsibility is on ECP to shun this reputation by cooperating with the government on electoral reforms,” the cabinet member, who is also a senator, remarked.
“If India, our neighbour, who is the world’s largest democracy with a population of over 1.36 billion people, can completely and successfully introduce EVMs in general elections, then why can’t we? We have no reason to shy away from EVMs to make electoral process free and fair,” the insider added.
This correspondent contacted ECP for its views on the matter and was informed that the Commission has serious concerns that the legislation on electoral issues would deprive it of its powers to prepare and review electoral rolls (voter lists).
In an unusual statement issued Tuesday night after a top-level meeting, ECP said its powers regarding preparation and reviewing of voter lists cannot be curtailed or abolished in light of Article 222 of the Constitution of Pakistan arguing that Elections (Amendment) Bill 2021 and Elections (Second Amendment) Bill 2021 eliminate these powers.
The Commission also expressed concern that its inputs on 49 amendments in Elections Act 2017 were not incorporated in the proceedings of parliamentary panel on electoral reforms; and ECP opposed the amendment in Section 122 of Elections Act 2017 to replace secret ballot with open ballot in Senate elections. The Commission also opposed delimitation of constituencies on the basis of voters, as envisaged in the new legislation, instead of on the basis of population.
Former secretary ECP Kanwar Dilshad said Pakistan would join the list of ‘first world democracies’ if 49 amendments suggested in Elections Act 2017 are passed by Parliament. “Electoral reforms are the need of the hour,” he told Business Recorder.
However, Dilshad said EVMs cannot eliminate foul play from general elections. “President Arif Alvi was a critic of EVMs when he was a Member National Assembly (MNA); after his visit to Bangkok he compiled a report wherein he termed EVM use as impracticable in Pakistan. That report is part of National Assembly’s record. Dr Sania Nishtar was also critical of EVMs when she was part of the caretaker set-up in the year 2013,” the former secretary ECP said.
The government wants to replace ECP with NADRA (National Database and Registration Authority), which is under the administrative control of the government, for the preparation of voter lists, Dilshad pointed out.
“It’s a major job of ECP to prepare and review voter lists. If these powers are taken from it, ECP would be rendered toothless. NADRA’s role should be secondary—to provide technical assistance to ECP in preparation of voter lists. These are some issues that need to be resolved through consultations between government, opposition and ECP. But, overall, government’s electoral reforms agenda is significant and it would be a milestone in the history of Pakistan, if implemented.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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