As expected, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced that the Senate elections would be “conducted as provided in the Constitution and law as per past practice”. A meeting of the Election Commission was held under the chairmanship of the Chief Election Commissioner, in which the members discussed the Supreme Court’s short order, and decided to “implement it in letter and spirit”.
The apex court had said that the “Election Commission is required to take all available measures including utilising technologies … to ensure that the election is ‘conducted honestly, justly, fairly, and that corrupt practices are guarded against.”
The use of the latest technology may mean that the vote may be traceable and the ECP is able to identify who voted for whom. In that case, the entire purpose of the secret ballot becomes questionable. However, the electoral body apologized for adopting the new procedure in today’s election.
As far as the upcoming Senate elections are concerned, Punjab’s 11 senators have already been decided on the basis of party numbers. While the other provincial governments have said it is now up to the ECP to ensure there is no unfair play in balloting and that it is possible to go back and see how ballots have been cast.
There is no doubt that free, fair, transparent and clean elections are the basic responsibility of the ECP but political parties have an important role to play as well. If the political parties contest the elections in accordance with the law and follow the code of conduct prepared for elections, it will help make elections clean.
The ECP alone cannot conduct clean and fair elections without the support of the political parties. Winning elections is important but equally important is establishing and strengthening the democratic traditions and culture. Political parties must discourage the strong-arm tactics used by their candidates during elections.
