MQM seeks stay against SC’s Karachi delimitation order

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) on Monday filed two review petitions with the Supreme Court, seeking a stay against the court’s ruling on delimitation of constituencies in Karachi, saying any re-demarcation without a fresh census would be unconstitutional and an exercise in futility.
“Without a fresh census, the act of delimitation which, in essence, is meant to create equality in the constituencies without any gerrymandering, would be nothing but an exercise in futility,” reads the petition filed by MQM’s Parliamentary Leader in National Assembly Dr Farooq Sattar at the SC’s Karachi registry. A five-member larger SC bench on November 26 decreed that constituencies in the violence-hit Karachi district be demarcated so that political “polarisation” could be avoided in the city in the future.
“Delimitation without a fresh census is tantamount to pushing the MQM and its mandate against the wall,” Sattar told reporters at the Supreme Court premises after filing the petitions.
Seeking review of the SC verdicts issued on November 26 and 28, the MQM leader said the decisions were in contravention of the law and constitution. According to Farooq, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had done away with its earlier stance on delimitation. He said constitutional provisions, not “someone’s wishes”, could be the basis for re-demarcation of electoral limits. “This Honourable Court in the Watan Party case PLD 2011 SC 997 was pleased to hold that delimitation in Karachi was to be undertaken strictly in accordance with law,” says a “concise statement” of the Civil Review Petition in which the petitioner, the MQM, has made “Pakistan and others” as respondents. The petition said the law with regard to delimitation, as explained in detail in the petition, was that delimitation could only be undertaken after a fresh census.
The petitioner recalled that the last census was held in 1998 and the last delimitation took place in 2002, which was upheld by the ECP and the courts of the country. He said two general elections and local bodies’ elections took place in the country on the very demarcations. “Therefore, the delimitation of 2002, so also the census of 1998, constitutes a past and closed transaction,” it said. In view of the above, the petition said, no power of delimitation under the relevant laws was available to be exercised unless and until there was fresh census, which in any event, “is at its fag end but unfortunately the same has been disbanded for reasons not known”.
Therefore, the petitioner said, without a fresh census, the original order of this court in the Watan Party case was “not implementable”. The petition added it was for this reason that the ECP vide its comments dated October 24, 2012 had confirmed that there could be no delimitation in Karachi for want of a new census. However, the Supreme Court rejected the considered stance of the ECP on November 26, after which the ECP secretary appeared in court on November 28 and conceded to expedite the exercise of delimitation. The petitioner said, “It is the case of the petitioner that when the Hon’ble Court could not have interfered with the discretion of the Election Commission exhibited through its comments dated 24.10.2012 and the Hon’ble Court ought to have clarified that for want of census no delimitation could proceed.”
“Thus, the orders dated 26.11.2012 and 28.11.2012 are liable to be reviewed”. In the second petition, the MQM took the ground that the SC order in connection with preparations of voters’ lists be put in place for the entire country.
The petitioner prayed the court to stay implementation of its interim orders dated November 26 and 28 until the decision on review petitions.