Although the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has insisted that the elections will not be delayed any further, some legitimate doubts persist about its claim. According to the ECP, the nation will go to the polls in the month of January 2024. But the issue is a firm date or schedule for the general election about which both the caretaker setup and electoral watchdog body have been found to be displaying a lot of ambiguity from the day one.

Neither has tried to help ease people’s concerns over growing political uncertainty in the country. The delayed elections have already created doubts about the fairness and transparency of the upcoming elections. All parties, except for Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), have demanded the ECP announce the election schedule without any further delay.

PML-N, which has announced that Nawaz Sharif will be its candidate for the premiership, appears to be quite comfortable with the current interim setup in the country for some obvious reasons. Its strategy is clearly aimed at buying as much time as possible in order to brighten its prospects in Punjab and KPK in particular.

Peeved by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) or its party chief Imran Khan factor in Punjab and KPK, the Nawaz Sharif-led party is trying to construct a grassroots public sphere embedded in post-May 9 anti-PTI narrative. The ECP, in my view, has attracted wild allegations against itself for it has failed to come clean so far. Ironically, it has created doubts about its ability and capacity to safeguard democracy in the country.

Mir Laique Ali

Karachi

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023