The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has extended the tenure of election tribunals for another three to six months following their failure to resolve all post-election disputes within the legally-stipulated deadline. However, the presiding officers of Loralai, Sukkur and Dera Ismail Khan tribunals have not accepted the extension, bringing the number of tribunals working across the country to eleven.
According to Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) on Friday, 92 petitions still await decision. In light of the pending cases despite the passage of deadline, four cases pending with the Loralai tribunal have been transferred to the Quetta tribunal, while six cases of Sukkur and one of Dera Ismail Khan has been given to Karachi and Peshawar tribunals respectively.
According to FAFEN, 17 petitions were decided in June 2014, out of which 16 were decided by election tribunals and one by the ECP.
The ECP constituted 14 tribunals across the country following the 2013 elections to redress election-related complaints of contesting candidates. The tribunals were legally bound to decide each case within 120 days of its receipt.
The election results were officially notified on May 22, 2013, following which the candidates were given time until July 6 (45 days) to submit their petitions. The ECP received a total of 409 petitions, while one petition was filed directly with the Lahore tribunal.
As many as 292 out of 384 petitions have so far been decided or disposed of by the tribunals. Out of the 24 petitions that were accepted, 22 were dismissed due to non-prosecution, 28 dismissed as withdrawn, 62 dismissed after complete trial whereas 126 were dismissed on technical grounds making the petitions not-maintainable. The reasons for dismissal of 30 petitions are not known to FAFEN due to non-availability of their copies of orders despite continuous efforts by the lawyers to obtain these.
Of the 24 petitions accepted, eight were filed by independent candidates, six by Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) members and four by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidates. None of the petitions filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have been accepted so far.
According to the FAFEN reports, 10 petitions accepted are against PML-N, the party with the highest number of seats in the National Assembly. Eight petitions cite independent candidates as respondents, while two cite returned candidates of PTI as defendants.
