The Election Commission of Pakistan has finally announced February 8, 2024, as the general election date in the country after intervention from the Supreme Court.
The electoral body which gave 11 Feb as date for the election in Thursday’s hearing of pleas in SC, seeking timely elections in Pakistan, was directed to hold consultation with the president and announce a confirmed date which will not be changed.
Following a meeting between the CEC Sikandar Sultan Raja and President Arif Alvi, it was decided to hold the election on February 8. The notification of the announcement of date was presented before the apex court in Friday’s hearing, which later announced its verdict.
The announcement has come as a relief to those who believed that polls would not be held anytime soon. No doubt, it is very welcome news, even if it means that the ECP will once again be breaking its word as the date represents a slight delay from the ‘end of January’ timeline, which the electoral body gave in late September and affirmed last week.
It also represents a 95-day violation of the deadline to hold elections according to the Constitution. The court, while hearing the matter, had rubbished the assertion of the law ministry and ECP that the president had no authority to give election dates.
Now that the fog has lifted, the ECP will be under constant scrutiny. It wilfully violated the Constitution on multiple occasions this year, justifying each violation with the excuse that it was necessary in order to hold elections that could pass a high standard of fairness.
If, after all these violations, the participating parties are still denied an equal opportunity to present their case to the public, then all of it will have been for nothing. It must, at the very least, demonstrate that it was acting in good faith.
