ECP reshuffle

THE present Election Commission is at the centre of so many storms that it seems prudent to reconstitute it without further delay.

A vital institution, the ECP is responsible for protecting Pakistan’s democracy and upholding democratic principles, mainly through the conduct of free and fair polls. Over the past three years, however, it seems to have done anything but that. It has not only disregarded constitutional edicts — for example, regarding election timelines — and issued illegal decisions — such as denying a major political party its right to contest elections — but has also failed to conduct a free and fair general election or ensure that democratic principles were upheld during the many controversies that followed.

Of course, it is not that past commissions were free of controversy. Rigging and manipulation disputes followed the two elections preceding 2024 as well, particularly in 2018. But what is complicating matters now is a technical roadblock preventing the ECP from making a fresh start.

The delay in reconstituting the ECP’s membership following the expiry of Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja and the Sindh and Balochistan members’ tenures in January this year has put the institution under the spotlight. Though critics have repeatedly called the ECP’s integrity into question, a provision introduced under the controversial 26th Amendment allows them to stay on till their replacements are appointed.

The government clearly has little interest in seeing them gone, but the opposition, too, seems more interested in playing politics than pushing the process forward. Though the PM has written to the opposition leader in the National Assembly to seek consultations, he has not given a meeting date; the opposition leader wants to skip a tête-à-tête altogether and desires, instead, a parliamentary committee to be appointed pre-emptively to determine the appointments — a demand which the NA Speaker has turned down.

Given that the current commissioners can stay indefinitely, it is unlikely that the effort to reshuffle the ECP will achieve much, unless either the government or the opposition takes up the matter seriously.

The ruling elite must remember that the current formula, of engaging both government and opposition in the appointment process, was done through the 18th Amendment after past experience taught political stakeholders that a neutral, mutually acceptable commissioner appointed after deliberation and consultation would serve everyone’s interests. Abandoning this formula would be another serious blow to Pakistan’s democratic progress since its last dictatorship.

The opposition, too, must approach the matter with seriousness. The opposition leader must keep pushing publicly for a meeting with the PM. Refusing to talk to rivals has not and cannot help the PTI achieve its goals. It must honour the process and move it forward.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2025

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