The Supreme Court has informed the Election Commission of Pakistan that its deadline, already mandated by the court, of February 23, for updating the electoral rolls, will not be extended further. The court had taken notice of the fact that millions of bogus votes were found on the electoral rolls. The four-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, was told by the Joint Secretary of the ECP that the notice for updating the electoral rolls was issued on the petition of Ms Benazir Bhutto, but the process had not yet been completed. Considering that the Constitution mandates the ECP to keep the electoral rolls updated on an annual basis, the ECP should have completed the task. It must not be forgotten that in the constitutionally provided system of Pakistan, elections can be held at any time, and the presence of accurate electoral rolls is made all the more important by the fact that once elections are announced in a constituency, whether a by-election, or as part of a general election, its electoral rolls cannot be amended. Obviously, if electoral rolls are not annually updated to include those now old enough to become voters, many would end up excluded, and the election exercise itself would be thrown into doubt.
The reply of the Joint Secretary has created the impression that the ECP depends on NADRA in the preparation of fresh electoral rolls. If so, while the conduct of elections, which the ECP does through the judiciary, might indeed be outside government influence, the preparation of electoral rolls will be in the power of the government. It almost seems as if the government is trying to use its power to have the updating of the rolls delayed, so that elections too may be delayed. It is unfortunate but true that the government’s foot dragging over other Supreme Court verdicts has created an atmosphere in which it seems that it will ignore this verdict too for its own political purposes. Though NADRA says it is using every means to meet the deadline, the government must not use it for its own partisan purposes.
It is virtually axiomatic that an election is only as good as the roll of its voters. If that is defective, other measures, such as those which prevent bogus voting, will not yield the desired results, which is the accurate expression of the will of the people. The government must refrain from manipulating the process, and allow the expression of the will of the people, in whose name it rules. It must meet the deadline set by the court, and not try to prevent a process which is one of the guarantees of free and fair elections.