Weeding Out Electoral Corruption

There is also an urgent need to bar the corrupt politicians --- the rootcause of the evil --- from taking part in elections. It’s high time that all the 24 accountability courts expedite proceedings in corruption and money laundering references without granting any adjournments to parties. Keeping in view the directives of the Supreme Court, the accountability courts must ensure that the evidence of different witnesses is recorded as early as possible. The Court also wants that the prosecution does not seek any adjournment and that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Prosecutor General must ensure that all witnesses are produced on a timely basis before the accountability courts.

The NAB Chairman must ensure compliance with the court order in letter and spirit and order disciplinary action against those found guilty of not obeying the court directives. This task must be completed at least a year before the next general elections so that the elections are held after cleaning the mess of corrupt politicians.

It is time to end malpractices in elections once for all. The Election Commission and NAB should join hands not only in preparing a foolproof electoral system but also introduce a procedure to ensure that corrupt candidates having a bad reputation do not take part in elections.

The mounting pressure from the PDM at a time when the country is facing multiple internal and external problems, which include high-profile disputes with neighbouring India and Afghanistan, an unprecedented price hike due to a number of economic factors, reduction in agricultural production and devaluation of the Pak rupee, have made things difficult for the Imran Khan government to function comfortably. The inability of state institutions to reliably provide ways and means to resolve grievances has encouraged the opposition parties to seek violence as a legitimate alternative. All this can be settled with the assurance of fair and free election and early settlement of pending NAB cases.

The Election Commission must now establish its credibility which is becoming more questionable with every election. Except 1971, all elections held in Pakistan were manipulated and hence the winner failed to deliver. Now is the time for opposition members to sit in the Parliament with the ruling party to hammer out electoral reforms in order to ensure undisputed election results acceptable to the winners and losers. To ensure a fair and transparent election, there is a need for major reforms in the election system, including elimination of corrupt candidates from participating in the election.

The only way is electoral reforms and speedy trial of corrupt politicians by NAB to ensure free and fair elections and enforcement of laws to ban corrupt individuals from participating in the elections.
A consensus between the government and the opposition needs to be worked out. The government has the responsibility of bringing all political forces to the negotiating table so that they can together work to reform the electoral system in a way that eliminates all possibilities of unfair elections and horse-trading. In fact, not only the government but all political forces have a responsibility to adopt a path of understanding for the benefit of the motherland.