Pakistan: Election Commission issues guidelines as country gets interim government  

Pakistan’s Election Commission has issued a set of guidelines after former senator Anwarul haq Kakar was sworn in as the Pakistan Caretaker prime minister and the country got an interim government till the general elections, Dawn News reported on Tuesday.

The guidelines include the interim government in the centre and the provinces to assist the electoral watchdog in holding polls in accordance with the law.

This comes when Pakistan’s National Assembly and all four provincial assemblies in the country stand dissolved.

The Dawn news reported that the notification states that the ECP is “mandated with the constitutional duty to organise and conduct elections in terms of Article 218(3) of the Constitution and to make such arrangements as are necessary to ensure that the elections are conducted honestly, justly, fairly and in accordance with the law and that corrupt practices are guarded against”.

“It has become imperative that the election commission shall take all necessary steps under the Constitution and prevalent law for the smooth conduct of general elections,” the notification adds as it goes on to elaborate on guidelines for interim setups at the Centre and in provinces to ensure transparent elections and a level playing field for all contesting candidates and political parties.

Apart from this, the Pakistan Election Commission has also asked the interim governments to comply with all the notifications, directives and provisions of Section 230 of the election law, which pertains to the functions of a caretaker government.

As per the Dawn news, Commission also directed the interim government not to post or transfer any public official after the issuance of this notification without the Commission’s prior approval in writing.

Moreover, “ensure that all kinds of recruitments in any ministry, division, department or institution under the federal, provincial and local government[s] are banned with immediate effect, except with the prior approval of the ECP and except recruitments by the federal and provincial public service commissions and those government organisations where test/ interviews have already been conducted before this day,” the notification reads.

The election body instructed all the leaders and the officials holding government residents to vacate their houses and asked interim setup to ensure immediate termination of the services of all heads of the institutions appointed on a political basis.

With the notification, the security shall be provided to the dignitaries as per their post and any extra deployment of security/protocol should be withdrawn from them.

It adds that the caretaker governments shall perform their functions and attend to day-to-day matters that are necessary to run the affairs of the federation and provinces in accordance with the law.

The Dawn news reported, “The caretaker governments shall not attempt to influence the elections or do or cause to be done anything which may, in any manner, influence or adversely affect free and fair elections,” the notification reads.

It adds that “the caretaker governments, being non-political entities can take actions or decisions regarding existing bilateral or multilateral agreements or the projects already initiated under the Public Private Partnership Authority Act, 2017, the Inter-Governmental Commercial Transactions Act, 2022 and the Privatisation Commission Ordinance, 2000 under intimation to the

The ECP has directed the caretaker prime minister, chief ministers or ministers or any other members of caretaker governments to “submit to the commission a statement of assets and liabilities of his spouse and dependent children as on the preceding 30th day of June on Form-B” within three days from the date of assumption of office, observed the Dawn news.