That the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has been acting quite responsibly after the end of Shehbaz Sharif-led coalition government of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) or since the swearing-in of country’s eighth caretaker prime minister Anwaarul Haq is a fact.

The ECP is said to have issued guidelines to the interim governments in Centre and provinces, asking them to assist it in holding polls “in accordance with law”.

A notification issued by it in this regard has said, among other things, that “The caretaker governments shall not attempt to influence the elections or do or cause to be done anything which may, in any manner, influence or adversely affect free and fair elections”.

The electoral watchdog’s approach to the upcoming general elections seems to have been characterized by a high degree of impartiality, stipulating and upholding just treatment without favoritism or discrimination.

In other words, the ECP has asked the caretaker setup to help it ensure fairness to all political parties, including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) that has been beleaguered by the May 9 violence and the arrest of its chief Imran Khan in the Toshakhana case amid a growing perception among people that the caretaker setups in Punjab and KPK provinces will not be acting in an impartial and unbiased manner in view of the fact that both the interim governments in fact have already completed their constitutionally-mandated 90-day tenures in sheer violation of an order by the apex court.

In my view, ECP appears to be fully aware of the fact that the situation is indeed brutal, no quarter given and it is a question of who would blink. Hence the need for taking all the required steps aimed at free, fair and transparent elections in the country. It’s in no mood to attract the ire of higher courts by acquiescing, willingly or unwillingly, to the potential shenanigans of the caretakers in the run up to the general election.

Ishrat Ansari (Karachi)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023