The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has spoken again, this time through its Additional Secretary Afzal Khan, who has dealt with two issues that could seriously impact the final outcome of the forthcoming general elections. For the cheating candidates who somehow manage to slip through the scrutiny of their nomination papers and declared eligible, he has words of warning: if found out anytime in the future, even after having been elected, they would not be spared. The utterance has come amid a raging debate whether the scrutiny should be so ruthless as to empty the ranks of mainstream political parties of ‘electables’ and thus provoke them to take to the streets and bring upon the nation the feared upsetting of the applecart of polling schedule. The other argument, equally if not more forceful, is: let all those who have been playing tricks with the people, neglecting their interests and, instead, enriching themselves, get their just deserts. After all, the free, fair and transparent elections mean that the genuine representatives of the people who hold their welfare above everything else enter the halls of powers. And if that causes some delay, so be it, rather than having the same old lot to once again exploit the nation. The issue raises more than one difficult question. Would the ECP, which according to a news story, is split between the two schools of thought, be able to follow through to the end what Mr Afzal Khan has averred? The glaring example of eschewing questions about financial impropriety of candidates is the talk of the town. Would the ECP be able to close its ranks and put up a joint front against all those who fall foul of the articles 62 and 63? And what about the returning officers who, in disregard of the directives of the court and ECP, keep asking frivolous questions? Apparently, the whole house is in a mess; it needs herculean efforts to put it back in shape.
In the meanwhile, 12 more of former MPs have been caught in the fake-degree net and the scrutiny has glad tidings for certain prominent political figures and bad news for others; ex-Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf is held ineligible and former dictator Musharraf though cleared at one of the nomination centres faces serious charges of treason and the court hearing has already begun. Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry has done well not to sit on the bench trying Musharraf.
The second point which the ECP Additional Secretary touched was rather revealing. His tone and tenor clearly suggested that the ECP was unhappy at the federal caretaker government’s bureaucratic assignment policy, as he urged it to remain impartial and match its deeds with words. His dismay was obvious when he said, ‘instead of placing partial officials in key positions the caretaker setup should post impartial officials’ to make sure that the elections are free and fair. So far, Punjab has been the only province where large-scale reshuffling has taken place, followed by KP and to some extent by others. It is essential that the ECP’s doubts be removed without delay for getting credible results of the polling exercise.