Polls within the constitutional timeframe of 90 days appear to be impossible, as the ECP announced on Thursday that the delimitation process will be finished by mid-December.
This essay has constantly maintained that the rule of law must be upheld and that elections shouldn’t be postponed.
It appears that a purposeful condition of legal and constitutional complexity was created to make timely polls challenging, but the power players — both in Islamabad and Rawalpindi — have other intentions. The delay is primarily the fault of the PML-N-led government. The recently announced census and the subsequent new delineation of constituencies are being mentioned as causes for the postponed elections. However, preliminary data for the census of 2023 was prepared in May.
In order to facilitate quick elections, the PDM government might have discussed the matter with all parties and scheduled a CCI meeting to announce the results months ago, if it had been so inclined.
Instead, agreement was gained about new census data at the CCI meeting on August 5 when, for instance, the PPP was’magically’ persuaded to support the 2023 headcount.
Another cause for concern is the selection of a relatively sizable caretaker cabinet. A caretaker administration should be a lean operation in charge of managing daily operations, including maintaining law and order, the economy, and timely and fair elections. Consequently, a 24-member cabinet that contains ministries for divisions like national heritage and tourism is superfluous and feeds speculation that the custodians are here to stay.
In this regard, the interim prime minister said during his first cabinet meeting on Friday that he and his staff do not have a “perpetual mandate” in a’reassuring’ manner. The caretakers do not want to extend their tenure, the temporary information minister added.
Some analysts claim that because the Constitution is clear about the time allotted to caretakers but ambiguous about delimitations, which is what caused the electoral delay, the 90-day restriction is inviolate.
A new elected government should then take office once the caretakers return home after 90 days. But realistically, as several political leaders have noted, surveys are unlikely to be conducted before February.
The Senate elections are scheduled for March, and the provincial assemblies, along with the National Assembly, make up the electoral college for the Upper House. As a result, any delays after this date will create a new constitutional crisis.
There won’t be any elections for the Senate without elected assemblies. It is repugnant to disregard constitutional requirements, as the caretaker administrations in Punjab and KP have already done. However, if delays are unavoidable, they must be kept to a minimal, and the ECP should settle the matter by establishing a specific date for general elections.
