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Pre-election period: Who should run the show

M. Sakhawat Hussain
The political conundrum seems to be getting further complicated regarding the 90 days of preelection period, which, as stipulated in Article 123(3) (a) of the Constitution, have come into effect with the 15'h Amendment. The article, in so far as holding election to the parliament, reads, "in case of dissolution by reason of the expiration of its terms, within the period of ninety days preceding such dissolution'. However the other option in the same Article 123(3) (b) comes in to play if parliament is dissolved under other circumstances as mentioned in other enabling clauses of the Constitution.
All said and done, the 9lh Parliament would be ending its term on January 24, 2014 and would dissolve automatically after that time. Parliamentary elections, as per 123(3) (a), have to be completed within 90 days prior to the date of the dissolution of the parliament, and that is mandatory for the Election Commission (EC) under Article 119 (b). For that purpose the Constitution provides EC with the 90 days as mentioned. Even to facilitate EC's pre-election preparation or fixing date for polls or fixing date to notify the schedule of the election, Article 72(1) clearly states that 90 days period for election would remain out of the purview of Article 72(1) proviso where it is mentioned that there shall not be a gap between session to session of more than 60 days. The long and short of it is that as the pre-election period is specified, these 90 days pre-election period falls in the province of the EC, and the countdown has started from October 27, 2013 as the date of voting cannot cross January 24,2014, which is fixed.
As per the constitutional provision of Article 119, EC is to take charge of the period as preparatory phase, and the government after the date mentioned is to assist the EC as per Article 126. But that is not the case at present. In that the government of the day is to be considered as interim government or by any term it may be known, though the Constitution is silent on this issue unlike the 14'h Amendment, where the government, its formation and tasks were clearly specified.
In all fairness, the spirit of the Constitution demands that such a government's main function would be limited to providing necessary support to the EC to conduct a free, fair and credible election. In the same spirit and the authority vested upon the EC by the Constitution, the EC should seek all kinds of assistance to enable it to perform its Constitutional tasks, and the government is obligated under the Constitution to fulfill the requirement of the EC. The EC, during this time, is to ensure that the government provides all necessary assistance within the purview of the Constitution without any question.
Now the question that is being asked is whether the Constitution and the spirit of it are being followed as of now? Within the meaning of the letters of the Constitution it is evident that neither EC nor the government is following what the Constitution requires. The EC is not seen taking charge as it is supposed to; rather it is in a mood to surrender its Constitutional obligations. It is seen even to be violating the existing code of conduct under the Representation of People's Order 1972, where the pre-election time is specified as 90 days. On the other hand, the Parliament and the government have already infringed on the domain of the EC. The Government is yet to take the character and role of an interim government as the PM had earlier declared, that October 24, 2013 would be the last date for 9th Parliament, a month earlier. At the same time she had also suggested that the character her government would transform into an interim government to provide all assistance to the EC as per Constitution.
The Parliament has extended it's current session to the November 7 for no convincing reasons, which means that the EC cannot exercise its power or Constitutional obligations like notifying the schedule, before November 7, though it may want do so. But it is highly unlikely that the commission would exercise its independence and take charge as per the Constitution as very recently the CEC has said that he is not yet ready with the changed code of conduct pending political settlement. It is also reported that the commission is redefining the pre-election period arbitrarily. This is unacceptable and would be a violation of the Constitution which, it being a statutory body, it cannot do. The government's nonchalant attitude towards the issue defies the spirit of the Constitution. It seems that neither the government nor the political parties, including the opposition, is bothered to ensure that the provisions of the Constitution are upheld.
It would only be the EC that will have to stand in the dock for not adhering to the Constitution being the prime Constitutional body to ensure a credible election. Losing credibility the EC would not be able to ensure an election credible and acceptable to all. It is, therefore, time for the EC to act if it wants to avoid being blamed for violating the Constitution. The writer is former Election Commissioner and a columnist.
E-mail: hhintlbd@yahoo.com