The president has announced the date of the Punjab Assembly election based on the proposal of the Election Commission, but due to slow behavior from the government, judiciary, and army, preparations for the election are not being made. The Election Commission has requested 20 billion rupees from the government to conduct elections in two provinces, but the government is unwilling to release this amount.
A source in the commission told The News that the government has only released five billion rupees so far, which is insufficient. Election expenses have increased due to the premature dissolution of the assemblies. Previously, the Election Commission had estimated the election expenses to be 47 billion rupees if simultaneous elections were held for all provincial and national assembly seats. However, this amount has increased to 61 billion rupees after the dissolution of two assemblies.
The Election Commission currently needs 20 billion rupees, but the biggest question is whether the federal government, which is struggling with economic problems, will release this money. It seems that the commission does not trust the bureaucracy to conduct the elections because it has become highly politicized, and giving them this responsibility may create a new scandal of rigging, rendering transparent elections impossible.
All this is happening at a time when the entire bureaucracy has been reshuffled to break the local political links between bureaucrats and politicians. A few weeks ago, the Chief Election Commissioner met with the Chief Justice of Pakistan to use influence on the High Courts to obtain Returning Officers from the District Courts. Sources say that the Chief Justice stated that he has no influence on the High Courts as they are independent in their decisions, but he said he would convey the message to the respective Chief Justices of the High Courts.
However, the commission was disappointed when the courts refused to provide the services of the judges. It is not clear what the commission will do in this situation. Under Article 220 of the Constitution, it is the responsibility of the executive authorities in all federations and provinces to assist the commission. However, this Article does not apply to the Judiciary. Deployment of army and paramilitary forces is also a major challenge.
The police chiefs of the two provinces have mentioned the challenges in reports sent to the Election Commission and said that they will not be able to ensure the peaceful conduct of the election in the absence of other forces. The number of police forces in Punjab is approximately two lakhs, but this number is not enough as they are already busy with duties in various places.
Additionally, 10,000 policemen are deployed for the security of Chinese citizens, almost the same number are engaged in ongoing operations in Kachcha, and 7,000 policemen are deployed for security at sensitive installations that cannot be diverted from these duties. Around 40,000 policemen have been deployed for digital census, and if elections are to be held, approximately 3 lakh soldiers and paramilitary personnel will be required. However, the army has already refused to release its personnel for election duty as operations are ongoing in KP and Balochistan. It remains to be seen whether the Election Commission succeeds in hiring soldiers under Article 220 or not.
