Daily Times

What goes around comes around. After a short-lived and unimpressionable ride on the carousel, a string of candidates filed by the government coalition for reserved seats in the legislature are in for a big surprise. As the Supreme Court of Pakistan suspended an earlier verdict by another court that had denied the Sunni Ittehad Council its share of designated seats in the wake of the February 8 elections, a fierce debate has once again stirred up over the credibility of the election commission and how tainted it has rendered the entire polling exercise.

No matter where one may stand on PTI’s decision to join arms with a right-wing party and its implications on its policy choices, there’s no denying the widespread criticism of the ECP’s decision to deny a politically sound player reserved seats for women and minorities These reserved seats are crucial in ensuring representation and inclusivity in the political landscape of Pakistan, and ergo, a body formed to oversee the fairness of our enfranchisement process did not bat an eyelid before blatantly disregarding our fundamental constitutional rights of representation.

With every passing day, the bias of the ECP in favour of certain political parties becomes even more glaring. The tragedy remains how this wiping-out of the hard-fought democratic gains was brought around to indulge petty insecurities. Is the honourable election commissioner, despite his lofty speeches and hollow platitudes, ready to go down in the country’s history as the most deleterious member to ever have sat in a position of authority?

The ongoing flawed decision-making process that will shape the course of the next five years rests heavily on the shoulders of an individual who has failed to prioritize the national interest. This failure has not only undermined his institution but also the overall governance principles of Pakistan. So much has already been achieved in the power games yet still, one is always on the lookout for all the blessings he can gather; all the cherries he can pluck.

Many claim the ongoing judicial reforms as a means to deliver the rainbow baby. However, even in a country where influence and deep pockets manage to pull strings, such crucial changes cannot occur without due diligence and the passage of some extraordinary legislation. In the meantime, let’s brace ourselves for a frenzied La Tomatina in the coming weeks, pitting the old “reserved seat-holders” against the new, fresh-out-of-the-mint representatives. *