The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday sought a comprehensive report by January 15 from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) over implementation of its earlier judgment of June 8, 2012 regarding election campaign expenses regulation.
The three-member bench headed by Chief Justice (CJ) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry issued the directive on a review plea moved by the Workers Party Pakistan through its general secretary Akhtar Hussain.
The CJ, in his June 8 decision, had directed that all election laws should be strictly implemented by the ECP in discharge of its constitutional mandate under Article 218(3) of the constitution, Representation of the People Act and other laws.
“The election commission is empowered to check not just illegal actions relating to the election (violating the limits set for campaign finance, etc.) or corrupt practices (bribery, etc.), but is also empowered to review all election activities, including Jalsas, Jaloos, use of loudspeakers, etc. for their effects on the standards of `fairness, justness and honesty that elections are expected to meet,” the CJ had said.
The decision had held that the ECP was also empowered to take preemptive measures to ensure that the spirit of democracy and fairness, justness and honesty of elections was fully observed. The ECP must undertake monitoring of election expenses from the day the holding of election was notified. A candidate must account for all expenses immediately after the election was over, the CJ had said in his verdict.
Besides, the ECP was asked to facilitate voters, with increase in the number of polling stations throughout the country so that the polling stations were not at a distance of more than two kilometers from the place of residence of voters.
The decision had also banned establishing of camps near polling stations while the ECP was asked to dispatch extracts from the voters’ list in the name of one or more persons living in a house at least seven days before the polling day by post, or to save the postage by annexing such extracts with any of the utility bills.
“The election commission is obliged to ensure that all elections witness a substantial participation of the electorate, therefore, all necessary steps must be taken to make voting compulsory in Pakistan as early as possible,” the CJ had held.
