Election tribunals set up by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) have failed to redress post-election disputes within the legally-stipulated deadline, as 27 percent (109 out of 410) petitions are yet to be decided a year after the general elections 2013, says the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in a report released here on Monday.
Contesting the FAFEN claims, an ECP official said that it was presumed that the 4-month period prescribed for election tribunals in the law for deciding cases was not mandatory. The tribunals can not unduly delay cases as they have to provide justification for any delay. He claimed that various cases were at various stages of investigation with some related to thumb verification of voters which were pending with NADRA and others were pending in the courts of law and still others related issues such as re-polling and re-counting of votes were continuing.
"If the Ministry of Finance had allowed the proposed budget for establishment of 28 tribunals, as proposed by the ECP, instead of just 14 then the tribunals would have been sufficient in number to take decisions promptly," he added. As of May 31, 2014, FAFEN estimates 73 percent (301 out of 410) cases have been decided by election tribunals and the ECP (276 out of 385 by tribunals and 25 by the ECP) and 20 petitions are pending due to stay orders issued by high courts and seven are awaiting verification reports from NADRA.
The ECP constituted 14 election tribunals across the country following the general elections 2013 to redress election-related complaints of contesting candidates. The official results were notified on May 22, 2013, following which the candidates were given until July 6 (45 days) to submit their petitions. The ECP received a total of 409 petitions and one petition was filed directly with the Lahore Election Tribunal.
Most of the petitions (99) were filed by independent candidates followed by PML-N members' 66 petitions, PTI 58 and PPP members 50. The PML-N - the party with the highest number of seats in the National Assembly - had the highest number of petitions filed against its winning candidates. Over one-third (138 or 35 percent) of the 385 petitions were filed against the PML-N's winning candidates and PPP's elected candidates were nominated in 50 petitions. The ECP data shows that 407 petitions were filed with the commission, one forwarded to the Lahore Election Tribunal and another filed directly with the Lahore Tribunal are missing from the ECP's data.
According to FAFEN, a total of 276 out of 385 petitions have so far been decided or disposed of by the tribunals. Twenty-two petitions were accepted; 21 dismissed due to non-prosecution; 28 dismissed as withdrawn; 48 dismissed after completion of trials; whereas 122 were dismissed on technical grounds making the petitions non-maintainable. The reasons for dismissal of 35 petitions are not known to FAFEN due to unavailability of their copies of orders.
Region-wise: Election tribunals in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa are far ahead of other provinces in the disposal of cases as they disposed of 88 percent (61 out of 69) petitions, followed by Balochistan (78 percent, or 47 out of 60), Sindh (77 percent, or 70 out of 91) and Punjab (59 percent, or 98 out of 165). FAFEN observers also recorded 2,329 adjournments of over seven days in election tribunals in violation of election laws and ECP's directions which urge the tribunals to hear the petitions on day-to-day basis and not allow an adjournment of more than seven days.
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