Feb 8 general elections: ECP, govt, judicial officers likely to be made DROs, ROs

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is expected to appoint a mix of judicial officers and officials from the federal and provincial governments as well as its own officers as district returning officers (DROs) and returning officers (ROs) for the Feb 8 2024 general elections.

It has been learnt that though no formal decision has been taken in this context, there is a likelihood of opting for the appointment of DROs and ROs from various government departments, including judiciary for the election duty.

“The Election Commission is left with no option but to engage officers from diverse departments. Already, the provincial election commissioners are in the process of finalising lists of officers for the poll job, besides Central Secretariat,” confirmed a senior official of the Election Commission while talking to The News.

He recalled that the judiciary had declined to spare judicial officers for the election duty for various reasons, and one of them was the load of pending cases. However, he added one of the smaller provincial High Courts had expressed its readiness for this purpose.

To a question, he said around 1,000 DROs and ROs would be involved in the nationwide election duty.

“The Election Commission, already in the election mode, will make sure that officers of good repute are assigned the critical job to contribute to objective of free, fair and transparent elections,” he maintained.

The National Judicial Policy Making Committee (NJPMC) in its judicial policy, 2009 had decided to stop judicial officers from performing the election duties, as this had dragged the ‘judiciary into political controversies’.

The Sections 50 and 51 of the Elections Act, 2017, empower the electoral body to appoint DROs, ROs and assistant returning officers (AROs): “For election to an Assembly, the Commission shall, in the prescribed manner, appoint a District Returning Officer for each district or a specified area— (a) from amongst its own officers subject to availability; (b) by selection from a list of officers provided by the government or a provincial government; or (c) from the subordinate judiciary in consultation with the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court…” Likewise, the Commission shall, in the prescribed manner, appoint, from amongst its own officers or officers of any government or corporations, autonomous or semi-autonomous bodies controlled by any government, or from the subordinate judiciary in consultation with the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court, a Returning Officer for each constituency. (2) A person shall not be appointed as Returning Officer for more than one constituency, save in exceptional circumstances, for reasons to be recorded. The Commission may, the Section 51 says, in the prescribed manner, appoint, from amongst its own officers or officers of any Government, or corporations, autonomous or semi-autonomous bodies controlled by any Government, as many Assistant Returning Officers as may be necessary. Meanwhile, according to the cause list issued by the Election Commission, the forum will announce its order regarding the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s intra-party election case on November 23 (today) for which a notice has been issued to the party through its Chairman Imran Ahmad Khan Niazi.

There is a possibility that the order would pave the way for PTI to retain its election symbol ‘bat’.