Denigrating any individual or institution that does not agree with its point of view has become a hallmark of the ruling party. The most recent example of this overly-defensive behaviour is the treatment meted out the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) by Prime Minister Imran Khan who unjustifiably labeled the ECP’s refusal to hold Senate polls under an open ballot as there was no constitutional basis to do so, an allowance for “foul play”. That the Supreme Court (SC) concurred with the ECP, stating unequivocally in its decision on a reference sent by the government itself asking the apex court’s advice on the matter, that a constitutional amendment was required to make such an important procedural change to the election process did not draw the PM’s ire, displays his propensity to go after soft targets. The ECP has defended its position in a statement, rejecting the PM’s stance, terming it an open contradiction that ‘during the same election under the same roof with the same staff whatever seats they won were acceptable but the one seat they lost was not’, asking him not to ‘sling mud at us’.
PTI ministers, as a reaction, came out swinging in a press conference where they challenged the ECP to prove its impartiality in the Senate elections. The government has been at loggerheads with the ECP for a while. The PTI’s foreign funding case has picked up some steam after over six years of being practically shelved, with numerous hearings leading nowhere. The NA-75 Daska by election held two weeks ago, for a hotly contested National Assembly seat from Punjab between the PTI and PML(N), was declared null and void by the ECP as it suspected the results were falsified, citing some very obvious irregularities and incidents of rigging and fraud. It is ironic that on one hand the PTI is lambasting the ECP for apparently ‘not doing its job’, while on the other it made a mockery of its rules and procedures by having federal minister Faisal Vawda, who faces certain disqualification from the National Assembly, vote in Senate elections as an MNA, resign, and contest in the same election to become a Senator. Governments clashing with institutions out of frustration only weaken the foundation of democracy. The PM should take responsibility for his shortcomings rather than malign independent state institutions that are simply doing their job.
