The Supreme Court (SC) referred on Tuesday the matter of 26 parliamentarians elected under the incomplete Election Commission to the recently constituted Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) under the 18th Amendment.
A three-member SC bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Tariq Pervez and Justice Amir Hani Muslim was hearing a petition filed by Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan against bogus voters in the electoral lists. The court told the Election Commission to submit a report within two weeks about the legal status of by-elections held after the passage of the 18th Amendment, in the absence of the Election Commission.
The court said it would decide the case after receiving the commission’s reply or comments on the matter. Appearing on notice, Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq told the court that the commission had been formed in accordance with the provisions of the 18th Amendment. He said the ECP would soon submit its report over the legal status of by-elections.
Naseer Ahmad Bhutta, counsel for three Punjab Assembly members, submitted that a constitutional amendment was required to validate elections of the MPs who were elected after the passage of the 18th Amendment. The chief justice said the court wanted the system to continue. However, he said the government should also keep in mind that the minister who presented the budget for 2011-12 was also elected after the 18th Amendment by an incomplete Election Commission.
He said the government should find some way to solve the matter because the voters had exercised their constitutional right in the by-elections but technical faults had been made by the government. The court stated that the Election Commission should examine the bogus votes in the electoral rolls and enrol only eligible voters. The court said the Election Commission and the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) should coordinate in the preparation of electoral rolls.
Khan, the petitioner, had contended that according to the Election Commission almost 44 percent of the registered voters were bogus, which had made the status of incumbent assemblies and the government dubious.