Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan announced on Saturday to hold a sit-in in front of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in Islamabad if its members do not tender their resignations by October 4. Imran Khan, who was addressing a public gathering after chairing a party meeting in Lahore, said “there was no justification for the ECP members to hold their posts after 21 political parties had claimed that rigging took place during the 2013 elections”. Earlier this week, Imran Khan had warned all members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to transparently answer the questions he raised or he will take to the streets once again. The PPP has also chimed in and demanded the same.Both parties are right to demand resignations. The judicial inquiry commission has pointed out flaws of the ECP at 40 different points in its report. Imran Khan asks, “What moral authority does this ECP have to hold by-elections and LG polls?”, and rightly so. The conduct of the ECP has been appalling, and heads must roll. The resignations are the best way forward, not only to shake up the ECP, but also to avoid another disruptive PTI dharna. Despite being constitutionally empowered and having security of tenure, ECP members have by and large not been able to ensure progressively cleaner and fair elections. Yet, is the path of confrontation taken by the PTI supremo Imran Khan really a sensible choice? To begin with, the Constitution clearly and deliberately provides ECP members with security of tenure designed specifically to insulate them from political pressures. The only way to remove an ECP member, other than the latter choosing to quit office, is by taking up the issue with the Supreme Judicial Council and proving that the ECP member is incapable of performing his duties or is guilty of misconduct or in second case the ECP members need to be held accountable to the people, rather than being allowed to hide behind the constitution. Yes, we have heard time and time again that there was no “systematic rigging”, but many of the “mistakes” made were avoidable and suspect. ECP members are appointed for a fixed five-year term. The ECP members (retired judges of the high courts) are due to retire next June. Three members have already tendered resignations, but a forced removal of the rest is not possible. They have to quit voluntarily, or a case of misconduct has to be proven against them in the Supreme Judicial Council. Monitoring the polls is the right of every party, but interference in the workings of the ECP is not. If the import of this statement is to ensure elections according to the PTI’s whims and wishes, this would defeat the perfectly credible purpose of ensuring fair polls. As it is, there are rumours of three of the four provincial members of the ECP considering resigning amidst the furore over their handling of the 2013 elections. The ECP is meeting today (Monday) to consider the situation. If the three or even four provincial members do resign, the whole programme of the by-polls and local bodies elections will once again be thrown up into the air. To avoid a long hiatus, new members must then be appointed to replace any outgoing ones as soon as possible so that the country can embark once more on the road to completing the electoral tasks.
pk.shafaqna.com
