There are not any two opinions that Pakistan is in want of an unbiased and an autonomous Election Fee. The erstwhile conference of meddling with the affairs of the poll by engineering desired outcomes has bred discontent, and the manipulation of February 8, 2024, mandate is a working example. The bottom actuality is {that a} new Chief Election Commissioner’s appointment is due, because the incumbent has accomplished his tenure after a contentious stint in workplace, in addition to two different members from Sindh and Balochistan. An modification in Article 215(1) by way of the controversial twenty sixth modification had enabled the retired officers to proceed in workplace, resulting in extreme credibility points for a constitutional physique.
The appointment of CEC has at all times been a bone of competition in our political milieu. That’s so as a result of vested pursuits have tried to maneuver the result of a free and honest verdict, and this has obstructed naming of an impeccable particular person to the highest job. This has led to the controversial end result of elections, and a subsequent weird and pestering instability. Although the Structure below Article 213(2A) and (2B) and Article 218(2)(b), ordains the PM, in session with the chief of the opposition, to advocate names for appointment to the excessive workplace of ECP, it has by no means been easy crusing. Furthermore, it has been a colluded affair, rendering the appointment and functioning of an unbiased CEC an uphill process.
Pakistan’s governance cloth is knitted in parliamentary democracy and it warrants an unbiased election commissioner. The incumbent needs to be free from temptations and possess the mantle to face for supremacy of regulation and the Structure, and never dictation from the chief. The current Election Fee has been a sorry story of being subservient to the chief, and had the audacity to defy dictums from the superior judiciary. The delay in holding elections, a biased angle with the nation’s largest political get together and defiance to implement the SC’s July 12, 2024 verdict is at least a charge-sheet. It is time to transfer ahead by naming an individual of integrity as CEC, together with an empowered fee.