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Election process should be transparent & free from any pressure: CJP Umar Ata Bandial

ISLAMABAD, Feb 03 (SABAH): Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Umar Ata Bandial, during a hearing on the re-poll order of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for the Sarai Naurang Tehsil, on Thursday said that constitutional and legal institutions should be independent and sovereign.

Last month, the ECP had ordered re-polling at six polling stations in Lakki Marwat’s Sarai Naurang where women were barred from casting votes during the first phase of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s (K-P) local body elections.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan had sought details on the re-poll order from the ECP.

During the hearing of the case on Thursday, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Senator Kamran Murtaza’s counsel Sardar Latif Khan Khosa said that a re-poll was ordered in Sarai Naurang after the situation deteriorated during the election of the chairperson.

However, the lawyer informed the apex court that no votes were cast at only one polling station in the tehsil and voting at others was held as per schedule.

Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, who was part of the three-member bench hearing the case, inquired about the incident of firing outside the women’s polling station which resulted in one person being killed.

The court stated that according to the returning officer’s report the electoral watchdog had ordered for a re-poll owing to the deteriorating law-and-order situation. “Women did not go out to cast their votes out of fear,” Justice Shah said.

Sardar Latif Khosa maintained that he believed in the sovereignty of the ECP as he was not affiliated with the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI). However, the commission should have submitted a fair report, he added.

To this, CJP Bandial highlighted that there were a total of 108 polling stations in the constituency and the JUI had won. He further emphasised that constitutional and legal institutions should be independent and sovereign. “The election process should be transparent and free from any pressure,” he said, adding that he wants to make the authority of the commission clear.

The ECP’s director-general law requested the top court for additional time to submit their reply.

Kamran Murtaza’s counsel stated that the ECP had ordered a re-poll on February 13 and requested the court to make a decision on the case before that date. Subsequently, the hearing of the case was adjourned till February 8.