CJ approves ECP’s request for appointment of judicial officers

In a major development, the National Judicial Policy Making Committee (NJPMC) on Saturday allowed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold the upcoming general elections under the judiciary’s supervision.
The NJPMC, in its special meeting held here on Saturday in the Supreme Court with Chief Justice Ifthikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in the chair, approved the ECP’s request to appoint judicial officers for supervising the next general elections. On the recommendation of various political parties, the ECP had submitted a request to the NJPMC to hold forthcoming general elections under the supervision of the judiciary by appointing session judges and additional session judges as District Returning Officers (DROs) and Returning Officers (ROs) for the elections. Sources said that during the meeting, ECP Secretary Ishtiak Ahmed told the participants that the polls could be made fair and transparent by appointing judicial officers to supervise the polling and the vote count.
He told the meeting that if judicial officers were not appointed, the ECP would have no other choice but to appoint bureaucrats working under the direct control of the provincial governments. He further told the meeting that there was a broad consensus among the political parties, civil society and media for involving the judiciary in polls.
Sources said the ECP secretary had also provided the details of the facilities and the financial and administrative powers given to the DROs and ROs during the election process. He also provided the details of the logistical arrangements for the ROs and other polling staff. After reviewing the ECP’s point of view, the NJPMC approved the ECP’s request and allowed it to appoint the district and session judges as DROs and additional session judges as ROs. During the elections, the DROs would enjoy the powers of the district coordination officers (DCOs). It may be recalled here that during the last three decades, the ECP has been appointing session and additional session judges as DROs and ROs. However, the National Judicial Policy bars the district-level judiciary from involvement in the election process because “it affects the performance of the judicial officers, and could bring a bad name to the judiciary due to corrupt practices.” But, there is one provision in the judicial policy that the government could ask the superior judiciary to involve judicial officers in the electoral process.
In a consultative session with the ECP on September 27, all political parties asked the commission to take up the issue with the chief justice for reviewing the judicial policy. Subsequently, Chief Election Commissioner Justice (r) Fakharuddin G Ebrahim also held a meeting with the chief justice, and requested him to review the National Judicial Policy and allow the appointment of judges as DROs and ROs.