Supreme Court has noted that if general elections are postponed to solve constituency delimitation problems, it will only result in a void of leadership and even more crisis of legitimacy.
This certainly would be contradictory to democracy and the public interest of the people. Hence, such principles as proportionality and the idea of larger good require that general elections be given priority.” Thus wrote Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah on Wednesday in a judgment he authored to justify why the Supreme Court declined to get involved on Dec 18 when asked about the delimitation-based controversy over constituencies for Baluchistan legislators.
He points out that when the election programmatic plan comes up, any lawsuits and legal questions involved in elections have all got to be settled as soon as possible; matters concerning those involving the demarcation of constituency boundaries can wait until after the elections.
The judge noted that this approach maintained democratic administration and respected the basic rights of voters, even while recognizing that after a certain period, there would be inevitable adjustments in constituency boundaries.
Chief Justice Masood explains why the apex court has chosen to stay clear of election-related disputes. The appeal filed by Gul Khan was accepted for hearing before, inter alia, a three-judge bench comprising Justice Sardar Tariq Masood (chief justice) and his two colleagues Justices Athar Minallah and Syeduzzaman Ali Shah.
The BHC had on Dec 12 allowed Saeed-ur-Rehman’s petition by declaring void the Nov 26 delimitation order of the Election Commission of Pakistan with directive for the ECP to notify final delimitation (Form-7) for both constituencies, in the following terms: PB-I (Sherani cum Zhob) — Sherani plus Patwar Circles Babar and Murgha Kibzai of the neighboring district, Namgyal; or Zhob.
Lying at the foundation of democracy is popular sovereignty executed through free elections held regularly. Without these, the government cannot be said to have been democratic such was his comment Justice Shaw observed that from this flowed all other aspects governing human behavior including political stability and national economic development.
Free and fair elections are a foundation of constitutional democracy and timely election is one of its characteristics. Therefore,” said Justice Shaw. “Elections serve the purpose of maintaining democratic procedure and securing public confidence in a democratic system.
“It is in the background of this significance of the elections in a constitutional democracy that the court attends to the questions: Should this approve and decide on the controversy of constituency delimitation, or should it be cautious and choose not to touch that issue at all for now to allow general elections expected early next year to proceed smoothly without obstruction? ” explained Justice Shah.
Justice Shah noted that in democratic governments, the holding of general elections is a long-established principle. “General elections are regarded as an essential element for representative government and respecting people’s right to representation; moreover, such periodic electoral activity helps firmly fix public confidence in fairness (democracy),” he said.
On the other hand, he explains that while delimitation is very important to fair and effective distribution of representation within a constituency it lacks immediacy or super-priority over general elections.
