Cabinet body to hold elections thru EVMs unconstitutional, says Rabbani

ISLAMABAD: Former Chairman Senate Senator Mian Raza Rabbani termed the formation of the Cabinet Committee to hold elections through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) as direct interference by the Executive in the electoral process and violation of the Constitution, 1973. “Under Article 218(3) of the Constitution, it is the duty of the Election Commission, “to organize and conduct the election and to make such arrangements as are necessary to ensure that the election is conducted honestly, justly, fairly and in accordance with law ….,” he said while quoting the Clause 3 of the Article 218 of the Constitution, and termed the Cabinet decision of formation of the Cabinet committee to hold the next election through EVM’s as gross violation of the Constitution and interference in the constitutional powers of the Election Commission of Pakistan. Rabbani was of the view that the formation of such a Committee is tantamount to direct interference by the Executive, i.e., the Government, in the electoral process which under the Constitution is exclusively the domain of the Election Commission. He said the party which forms the Government is the interested stakeholder in the next general elections, therefore, its any role in the electoral process will make elections more controversial. He said the manner in which the laws relating to elections were passed in the Joint Sitting, without creating a consensus amongst all the stakeholders, will cast a deep shadow on the entire process. “The next general elections, even before they have been conducted, are suspect and not acceptable to the majority of the stakeholders,” he said.