Defence ministry moves SC for polls across country on same date

ISLAMABAD: In a fresh development, the Ministry of Defence Tuesday moved the Supreme Court seeking elections across the country on the same date.

The ministry’s view is in line with the federal government’s stance, which has persistently opposed holding separate general elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

The tenure of the National Assembly and legislature of two other provinces — Sindh and Balochistan — will end later this year and the federal government wants the polls to take place then, not in May, as directed by the Supreme Court on April 4.

“...The instant application may be granted, the order dated 4-4-2023 passed in C.P. No. 5/2023 may kindly be recalled with the directions that the general elections to the National and all Provincial Assemblies be held together, upon completion of the term of the National and the other two Provincial Assemblies i.e. of Sindh and Balochistan,” the ministry’s plea stated.

In the April 4 order, the top court ruled that the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to postpone polls to the Punjab Assembly till October 8 was “unconstitutional” and fixed May 14 as the date for polls in Punjab. “The impugned order dated 22.03.2023 made by the Election Commission of Pakistan is declared to be unconstitutional, without lawful authority or jurisdiction, void ab-initio, of no legal effect and is hereby quashed,” the ruling said.

“Neither the Constitution nor the law empowers the Commission to extend the date of elections beyond the 90 days period as provided in Article 224(2) of the Constitution.”

The ECP on March 22 announced that the elections in Punjab would be held on October 8. The date was earlier set for April 30, in consultation with President Arif Alvi, but was later extended in view of the security situation and non-provision of funds from the government. But despite the court’s orders, the government did not budge and got a resolution passed through parliament against the verdict, clearly stating that it would not provide funds to the ECP for polls.

Following the government’s move, the apex court directed the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to release a total of Rs21 billion to the election commission for holding polls, but even after the deadline passed on April 17, the central bank did not release the funds. In a session of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue a day earlier, SBP Acting Governor Sima Kamil said the central bank had allocated funds — on the SC’s orders — for the polls but lacked the authority to release them.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Khwaja Asif has said the briefing privately given to Supreme Court judges at the apex court by the defence secretary and military officials was the continuation of the April 1 submission in which the attorney general had suggested that the court could be given a security briefing. “It was about security. The secretary defence and other officials of the ministry who could give a detailed briefing on the security issue were there. I think the three-member bench was briefed about security,” he said on Tuesday while answering a question on Geo News programme on Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Saath.

Replying to another query, the defence minister confirmed that the security officials had suggested in the briefing that a single date for elections to the national and provincial assemblies be set as pulling out 250,000 troops from their duties and training them for the election duty first for the elections to the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial assemblies and later for the National Assembly polls would be very difficult. When asked what the government would do if the SC directly ordered provision of security for the elections, he said: “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. I can give you a vague answer, but the position that parliament had taken yesterday on providing funds is quite clear. The argument is that the parliament is the ultimate authority to release these funds and they [the parliamentarians] have rejected this proposal [to release funds].”

Asif said the ECP had also called for holding the elections to the national and provincial assemblies at the same time and had warned of anarchy if the elections were not conducted on a single day. “The political tension is high. It is not a new phenomenon, but in other countries, political tensions go up when elections come. If the elections were held in this political tension, there would be violence,” he said. The defence minister maintained: “I can’t absolutely predict court decisions, but I don’t see elections in this political scenario. A constitutional deadlock has been created in the country over elections in Punjab. No one is interested in elections in KP. Punjab is a province of 65 percent population, and if any party wins from Punjab, it would make government. This is why they are insisting on elections in Punjab, undermining the Federation. It would cause an irreparable damage to the powers of Pakistan’s Federation.”

He said that if elections were held on a single date, there would a one-time chance of anarchy on the polling day, and the ECP also said that managing elections would be easy for the election staff as well. “I believe that the situation in the last two weeks or a month will be clearer. The public is the final court.” The defence minister said that when the IMF arrangements are finalised, the government is going to introduce economic reforms. In the coming budget, he said, the government would give relief to the people, and these initiatives could change the public opinion.

He said Imran Khan has said if he does not get a two-thirds majority, he will go for elections again, which shows his immature political behaviour. “He [Khan] even said if he had no simple majority, he would again go for elections. First he should stop all this madness. Imran wants the government to withdraw all cases against him.”

Asif was of the view that table talks are considered a healthy practice in politics, but setting preconditions are not good for political dialogue. He said everyone has to stay within constitutional limits. “Court can’t intervene in the executive matter, parliament can’t intervene in court matters, and establishment in election matters. This is not acceptable. We have to collectively think about our duties.” He said that we were told by the former army chief to oblige the chief justice as he wanted to bring two judges to the Supreme Court. We created a space because we wanted to decrease hostility but it didn’t work and we paid the price for doing so, he added.