Justice delayed, democracy denied

Over two years after the controversial Election 2024. the country's election tribunals are still sitting on 128 unresolved petitions - roughly one-third of all the complaints filed. The delay is an insult to the voting public. as the official deadline for disposing of election petitions expired in October 2024. Not only are there still so many undecided cases,. the pace of adjudication has actually slowed in recent months, with tribunals now deciding an average of only eight petitions per month. This is a conscious effort to undermine democracy and the very legitimacy of Parliament. Unfortunately, it is also nothing new. The system has a way of ensuring that parliamentarians associated with the 'king's party' can hold their seats for several years. regardless of the strength of the evidence in the case.

When lawmakers govern despite contested election results. continue to vote on laws and hold public office, every day of delay deepens the cloud hanging over the legislature. The most notorious example is former deputy speaker Qasim Suri, whose election was nullified by a tribunal in 2019. who still served out his entire term under a Supreme Court stay order. Suri's case is emblematic of a system where 'preferred' candidates are allowed to run out the clock, rendering the original complaints moot,. also hanging a sword over their heads to keep them in line.

Just as the 2018 election-related tribunals were 'unable' to give timely decisions on cases that could disqualify PTI parliamentarians. most of the unresolved petitions today target lawmakers from the ruling PML?N. There have also been allegations of forum shopping - allowing PML-N legislators to bend the rules. choose more amenable tribunal judges. Again. this is nothing new, as some judges during the PTI era were accused of being more loyal to PTI than some of the party's MNAs. If real democracy is ever to take hold in Pakistan, tribunals need to do their job in a timely manner,. people who undermine parliament's legitimacy - whether candidates or judges - deserve appropriate punishment.

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