Supreme Court and executive likely to face another round of confrontation

It seems as the Supreme Court may fetch up being the biggest player in the run-up to next month’s Senate polls and the general elections scheduled for 2013.

The apex court suspended the membership of 28 parliamentarians, including two federal ministers, on the basis that by-elections were held in contravention of the 18^th amendment. The decision could well trigger off another round of confrontation between the executive and higher judiciary.

By taking advantage of the judgment, the opposition parties can take a chance to perplex the electoral process. The apex court doubted the veracity of the voter lists, blaming the PPP-led government for not properly reconstituting the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The suspended MNAs and Senators will only be restored once parliament passes the 20^th amendment, permitting the PML-N to take advantage and press the incumbent to accept its various demands.

Some analysts are of the opinion that the apex court is soft on security establishment. The simple reason they gave is that the prime minister had been called in for contempt of court for violating the court’s orders on the NRO but nothing of the sort had been done with regard to military interventions, which clearly were violations.

It is vital to mention here that the 2008 elections themselves were contested on basis of the existing electoral rolls. The ECP at that more or less admitted after the general elections that the voters’ lists were incomplete.

Although the commission promised to do a better job for the next elections but failed to revise the electoral rolls in three years. However, the apex court by suspending the results of elections could go down a tricky rise and challenge the authenticity of the 2008 general polls.

The only way for the political parties to save the democratic setup is that they can pass the 20^th amendment at the earliest, as the next scheduled elections, both for the Senate and the National Assembly can be conducted efficiently.

In the future, the elected governments would do well to abide by the constitution and ensure that all its subordinate institutions would do the same.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Feb 9 2012. Filed under National, Opinion, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.