The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in a response submitted to the Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday has maintained that the Senate elections should always be held through a secret ballot.
This response comes a day after the SC, during a hearing on the presidential reference on the Senate election, expressed dissatisfaction over the report submitted by the ECP and had observed that it is ECP’s constitutional duty to ensure transparent polls.
The ECP’s counsel, citing Article 226 of the Constitution, said that votes for the Senate elections would “always remain secret” and the votes that were cast could “not be shown to anyone”.
To this, Justice Ahsan inquired into the definition of proportional representation. He pointed out that the seats “in the Senate should be according to the number of their seats in the provincial assemblies.”
“The term ‘free vote’ is used in polls for the National Assembly [elections]. The term ‘free vote’ is not included in the law for the Senate elections,” he observed.
He asked how the ECP would maintain this representation and if the votes could ever truly be secret. Referring to electronic voting, he pointed out that anything on the Internet could be traced. Regarding proportionate representation, he said that the ECP itself would be responsible if the party “does not get [a number of seats] in relation to its seats in the provincial assemblies”.
The counsel for the ECP elaborated on the measures taken by the commission to prevent fraud, wherein he elaborated that a vigilance committee and an online complaint centre has been set up.
Over 1,100 complaints have been received so far, and that immediate action has been taken in those cases, he added. All eligible candidates will be required to take an oath that they would not buy or sell votes, he further said.
However, the judge of the top court said that the posed question has yet to be answered. In spite of the counsel’s insistence that taking pictures of votes was illegal and that it followed the Constitution, the justice remarked that the ECP was “talking about secrecy from now till the Day of Judgement” and such a thing was not written in the law, the Constitution or court judgements.
“Those who are illiterate or ask for help to cast their votes, what happens to their secrecy?” he questioned.
Furthermore, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmed, on the occasion, asked what steps the ECP would take to rectify a lack of proportional representation if it comes to pass, and if the election results should then be declared illegal.
“Vote-selling will result in tatters of proportional representation,” Justice Ahsan remarked. “If any party gets seats [not in accordance] with its representation, the system will be destroyed,” he added.
The CJP said that the court would also take input from Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Senator Raza Rabbani regarding secrecy of the vote and proportional representation, as well as the issue of freedom of the judiciary and supremacy of the Constitution from the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC).
However, the PBC would not be consulted in regard to political matters.
Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Khalid Jawed Khan, in response to the country’s query on the government’s stance on the matter of proportional representation, said that the ECP should ask heads of political parties whether any seat adjustment was done.
Justice Ahsan remarked that the ECP has the power to stop vote theft, but only acts in a penal manner instead of a preventative one.
The AGP said that ECP would “have to wake up from sleep”. Barcodes or serial numbers could be printed on ballot papers, he suggested.
It can print specific barcodes on ballot papers, through which only the ECP would be able to identify ballots, he suggested, adding that the secrecy of the vote only applies on the day of the polls.
The chief justice then remarked that “those who pay for votes would have a system in place which the ECP knew but was not telling us”.
The AGP added that while there are not many that sell their votes, the buyers of such votes are waiting for the judgement from the court, out of fear that an open ballot may be announced.
“Money earned from narcotics and other black means are being used to buy and sell votes,” he told the court, referring to the new system of buying votes as exposed by the video leaked recently from the 2018 elections.
“The fate of the country is in the ECP’s hands, it should understand its responsibility,” CJP Ahmed said. He further asked whether the CEC had read the court’s judgement in the case related to the Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) to which the ECP official replied in the negative.
“If you haven’t read such an important judgement, what should we talk about with you? The judgement has laid out the full process for holding elections,” the CJP said.
At this point, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) advocate general pointed out that the court had already given a judgment regarding the matter of keeping the votes secret. Based on this precedent, he argued that the e Constitution cannot be read separately.
“Action on every part of the election process is done [on an] overall basis,” he maintained.
Justice Umar Ata Bandial said the courts wanted to see the ECP as a “completely independent” institution.
Justice Yahya Afridi questioned why elections were needed if there was to be proportional representation.
The court adjourned the hearing of the case till tomorrow.
Meanwhile, ECP has kickstarted the scrutiny of nomination papers submitted by candidates for the March 3 Senate elections.
The process will continue till Thursday, February 18.
As per details, a total of 170 candidates have filed their nomination papers with the ECP among which 29 are from Punjab, 39 from Sindh, 51 from KP, 41 from Balochistan, and 10 are from the federal capital.
The nomination papers of PPP’s Saleem Mandviwala and Sadiq Memon have been accepted.
Moreover, PPP’s Sherry Rehman’s nomination papers were accepted for the general seat and Palwasha Khan’s for the women’s seat.
Provincial Election Commissioner (PEC) Sharifullah and the KP Senate election returning officer (RO) have completed scrutiny of nomination papers of Farhatullah Babar, Zubair Ali, Rehan Alam Khan, Muhammad Humayun Mohmand, Muhammad Iqbal Khalil, Dost Muhammad Khan, Shaukat Jamal and Muhammad Ali Saif.
Likewise, on general seats, scrutiny of nomination papers of Malik Najab Gul Khalil, Farhatullah Babar, Hidayatullah Khan, Faisal Saleemur Rehman, Abbas Afridi, Dost Muhammad Khan, Najiullah Khattak, Hamidul Haq and Ataur Rehman completed.
Similarly, on women seats, the scrutiny of nomination papers of nine candidates including Tasleem Begum, Saima Khalid Hameeda Shahid and Asmat Ara Khattak were completed besides all candidates for reserved minority seat.
In order to ensure transparency in the Senate polls, a code of conduct has also been prepared by the ECP.
In this regard, the ECP has invited political parties to consult on the code of conduct on February 22 which will be issued after consultation from all political parties, the statement notified.
It has to be followed by political parties, candidates, voters, and election agents read a statement issued by the commission.
