Emphasizing the importance of local government elections for Pakistan, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja on Wednesday blamed the Punjab government for persistent delays in conducting local body polls in the province.
Addressing an event in Islamabad, he said the Punjab government had repeatedly changed its local government laws, preventing the ECP from proceeding with polls nearly a year since the previous setup’s tenure ended. “We need at least three to four months for delimitations,” he said, adding that current plans called for local government elections in Punjab in the last week of April.
“We are conducting de-limitations again and the provincial government has been asked to ensure polls are held by the stipulated time,” he said. The ECP has already informed the Punjab government, he stressed, that the commission would utilize previous laws under Article 283 of the Constitution if it attempted to once again amend the local government law to cause further delays.
Rubbishing allegations by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of the ECP “rigging” polls against it during by-elections, Raja noted that polling had been conducted for 17 National Assembly and 34 Punjab Assembly seats. “Of them, 35 by-polls were won by then-opposition and 16 by the government, which proves the transparency of the electoral process,” he said.
Additionally, the CEC slammed the “unwarranted criticism” directed at the ECP for allegedly opposing the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and granting overseas Pakistanis the right to vote from their place of residence. The PTI, in particular its chief Imran Khan, have repeatedly accused the ECP of opposing the use of EVMs. According to Khan, this is aimed at facilitating his political rivals.
“I challenge all critics to show one instance where the ECP opposed electronic voting machines or voting rights for overseas Pakistanis, but there should be a procedure,” explained Raja, clarifying that no mechanism should be imposed on the country if there were risks of it making the entire election process “suspicious.” Emphasizing that the commission supported the use of technology in elections, he said this could only be achieved if the measures were supported by all stakeholders.
During his address, the CEC lamented that the government had failed to provide the ECP with necessary funds during recent by-elections, adding that while some of the funding had since been released, much of it remained pending. On the issue of early general elections, he said the government had been informed that the ECP needed seven to eight months for fresh delimitations. “We are confident once the census is completed, we will be ready to hold general elections,” he added.