As the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) gears up to implement measures for the scrutiny of candidates for the 2013 elections, it is widely believed that this process, if conducted with zero tolerance for error, will end up reshaping the face of Pakistani politics. The million dollar question: will it?
The ECP constituted a five-member committee for the purpose in mid-February. the five departments represented in the committee were from ECP itself, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
Later in March, Special Election Cells were established by NAB, SBP, NADRA and FBR at their headquarters as were regional bureaus to support the ECP facilitate this process. Although the actual date for the commencement of the scrutiny was set for March 30, these cells had started working from the 15th of the month. In this regard, a hotline is planned, in addition to a common online platform for speedy data sharing for all these departments with the ECP.
“If this process is completed on merit without any exceptions, it will undoubtedly send home around 70 to 80 percent of the current politicians as all of them are defaulters one way or the other”, said Mr. Justice (Retd) Wajihuddin Ahmed, while commenting on the scrutiny. It won’t be wrong to say that this is the election before the elections that Pakistan badly needs, he added.
A conversation with a senior ECP official, however, revealed that all those expecting fire-works as a result of the scrutiny process just might disappoint themselves. “We are going only into the first ever transition from one political government to another political government in the history of the country. I wouldn’t say we will adopt a lax attitude, but it won’t exactly be a slash as well”, he said.
Centralized systems for scrutiny are a practice abroad but not entirely globally. Rather, it is a process currently being debated in the United States to be done away with in the developed world as there are those who believe that the society and judicial system has evolved and this centralization has outlived its utility. However, the election laws do vary from state to state and the Federal Commission mostly advises them and inspects the finances of the elections. Very recently, a bill has been moved in the state of Arkansas demanding creation of a procedure for criminal background checks for candidates and to require that a candidate having criminal history be given notice prior to the election that he or she is not qualified to hold office.
Next door, in the world’s largest democracy India, there is more stress on speaking the truth regarding one’s past rather than stressing the need for the past to be absolutely spotless. In the state of Bihar alone, over 50 percent of the members of Legislative Assembly (MLA’s) have declared criminal cases against them. Also the Right to Information in India is claimed more robustly than in Pakistan and the assets and any pending criminal investigations against all candidates is a public document which passes the buck to social titration.
Dr. Farooq Hasnat, a scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C and former Chairman, Department of Political Sciences at the University of the Punjab, while drawing a comparison between India and Pakistan, was of the the view that Pakistan, despite being the same age as its eastern neighbor, is new to the democratic process. Thus, it would need an with extensive role of the ECP as a watchdog till the system and the society get into the proverbial groove that would render self and public accountability without monitoring and dismissive bodies. No election commission, no matter how strong and resourceful, can infuse the virtue of honesty and accountability in a society. It is a socio-political behaviour that needs to be promoted among people so that they look beyond their ancestral allegiances to parties and start scrutinizing their future leaders based on current qualification in relevance to the prevailing national circumstance, he summed.
The very creation of this committee, and the much debated nomination forms, sent ripples through political spheres in Pakistan. Though there isn’t much of a rattle as yet, it just might be the calm before the storm, as disqualifications on the bases of tax-evasion and default will follow after March 30. Till the filing of this report, the candidates disqualified were either on the basis of fake-degrees or dual nationality, which does not frisk with the deep pockets of politicians.
I believe it is a heartening measure which will present the most eligible candidates for the people, said PML-N Parliamentarian and Chairman National Assembly Standing Committee Sardar Ayaz Sadiq. The party leadership has already welcomed all and every measure taken by the ECP and has demanded clearance certification from all its members before they would be scrutinized by the ECP, he added.
Former Chairperson Public Accounts Committee and PPP MNA Yasmeen Rehman was of the view that the parliamentarians mostly get nabbed for ignorance rather than intentional evasion. “There are a number of MPAs and MNAs who don’t even know that the National Tax Number is mandatory and thus don’t formally file their tax-returns”, she said. People’s Party has always encouraged accountability and scrutiny and this committee is no exception, she says, However, she adds, it is important that the ECP does not overstep its constitutional jurisdiction, under any pressure, be it from the Supreme Court or elsewhere.
“This scrutiny and all the tools being established to carry it out, in itself is a small but much needed achievement”, believed eminent political and defense analyst Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi. We need to understand and place events in the greater perspective and precedence, he said. This will send a message and create the pressure needed to get politicians thinking and acting along honest lines, he said. He was of the view that there already is tremendous burden on the ECP’s shoulders in justifying its neutrality and efficacy, but it will hit the roof post March 30. That, he believed, would be the true test of the ECP.
Dr Askari’s analysis was spot on as one of the five members of the scrutiny committee, on condition of anonymity, disclosed that a number of aspiring candidates have requested for the probable objections they might face and are already busy washing their dirty laundry before it gets public.
The whole practice and procedure of this principle already faces a steep challenge against time as ECP has seven days to conduct it and another seven to satisfy those who would have objections.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) has been asking for this to happen ever since its inception, said PTI President Punjab Ejaz Chaudhry. The people of this country have been cheated by corrupt individuals who bag the exchequer’s money and claim to be public servants in every election, he said. PTI has already made its stance clear over the issue and will be watching keenly.
Although, before the actual measures take effect, they are being praised to be of the highest moral order and most unanimously plausible by all political parties, there is many a cage that will rattle once the nominations are scrutinized.
There is every likelihood that the high percentage of aspiring candidates extremely vulnerable to scrutiny might uphold the notion, to take liberties with The Bard: there is nothing either good or bad, but probable political outcomes make it so.
The writer is a journalist based in Lahore.
