9 ` % LECTIONS are an essential feature of democracy. There 6 % have been several recent examples where countries with strong democratic traditions have refused to postpone elections even during the Covid-19 pandemic. But Pakistan is a different story. There are always certain forces, parties and individuals in this country that somehow try to disrupt the electoral process on one pretext or another. Therefore, the decision taken by the ECP to reject the federal and Sindh governments` requests to delay parliamentary by-polls scheduled for Oct 16 and the local government vote in Karachi and Hyderabad on Oct 23 is the right one. The centre and the province had cited the security situation in the country, an unannounced PTI march on Islamabad, the non-availability of police and the flood devastation in Sindh to make their case for further delay. Although the ECP has postponed voting on the national seat from Kurram due to security concerns, it has cleared the uncertainty surrounding the polls in other areas.
By-elections to the national and provincial assembly seats were originally staggered between Sept 11 and Oct 2 but called off due to the non-availability of security personnel and the flood devastation in the country. The LG vote was also deferred twice, depriving the citizens of Sindh`s 16 districts of an opportunity to elect their district governments. Even at that time, the ECP`s reasoning the unavailability of military and paramilitary personnel for security at the polling booths for postponing parliamentary by-elections just days before the contest lacked reasonable justification. This was especially true in the case of the by-polls as the vote on 13 national and provincial constituencies was spread across the country and split into three rounds. But with the worst hopefully behind us, there is no sense in the government`s arguments to delay the democratic accountability of Pakistan`s political parties. Following the ECP decision, the centre and Sindh better start making arrangements to ensure the security of voters and polling staff rather than seek more excuses to further delay the polls.
