To have free, fair and transparent elections in the country and to have functional democracy, it is imperative that the Election Commission of Pakistan be independent with its members having a flawless reputation.
It is essential that the electoral rolls and lists are credible and are free of bogus votes and acceptable to all major political parties. The existing electoral rolls (especially after NADRA had not authenticated 37.2 million voters out of 82 million registered votes in the voter list of 2007) shows that around 45 percent of the total 82 million voters are dubious.
Furthermore, there should be no role of the military establishment in the election process. Those candidates who want to contest the election should be thoroughly scrutinised by the Election Commission of Pakistan. They must declare their wealth and the taxes paid by them and their source of income should be verified by the concerned government department. The political parties should not give party ticket only on the basis of candidate’s wealth or on the basis of personal or family relationships with the party chief; they should award party tickets on merits considering the capabilities and political acumen of the person.
By introducing election on proportional representation basis and making voting compulsory for all registered voters can also remove many ills prevailing in the existing election system. It could potentially contribute to strengthening the political parties which is a prerequisite for real democracy.
The Election Commission of Pakistan should also introduce the electronic gadget voting machine (like in India) which will provide the polling result in real time. It will also eliminate ballot papers and ballot boxes which facilitate manipulation and bogus voting. The voters will be casting their votes to the party symbol and there won’t be much trouble for illiterate voters to press the party election symbol.
Furthermore, only those parties should be qualified to participate which have at least ten thousand voters as their party members. This will discourage the “tanga party” culture. The parties with manifestos to serve the people and solve their problems should be provided with state funds to make them financially independent.
The main reason of our elected government’s failure to establish good governance and to eradicate corruption is that the majority of those being elected as representatives are not honest and capable men of unimpeachable integrity. They are in politics to enrich themselves and protect their personal interest and not to serve the people. Without changing the present fraudulent and farcical system of election, there is no hope of having real democracy in the country.
The intervention of the military establishment is blamed repeatedly for not allowing democracy to establish its roots in Pakistan but that is not entirely true. The matter of the fact is that it is the political parties and their leaders who have never made the Election Commission of Pakistan an independent and powerful institution are also to blame. Who is stopping them now from taking the necessary steps from doing the needful?
S T HUSSAIN
Lahore
