After criticism, Pakistan election commission restricts Army's role in elections
Pakistan Election Commission
The Pakistan Election Commission's move was severely criticised by the Opposition and several lawyers leading the election body to backtrack.
After granting the Pakistan Army powers to "magistrate"the July 25th general elections, the Election Commission of Pakistan(ECP) today "restricted" the powers of the Army amid widespread criticism.
The Pakistan Election Commission's move was severely criticised by the Opposition and several lawyers leading the election body to backtrack. The election commission had granted the Pak Army to conduct on-the-spot trial of anyone breaking the law on election day and gave the Army powers to sentence them.
However, the ECP in a notification said comments and criticism of the senators was based on disinformation. The ECP through a notification limited the army's magisterial powers to offences of personification and capturing of a polling station or polling booth by anyone.
In all other cases, the armed forces would have to first inform the presiding officer of a polling station before taking any action, the notification stated.
The powers withdrawn included the offence of canvassing or soliciting voters within a radius of 400 metres of the polling station. Also, the powers of police officer under section 194 of Election Act 2017 given to the army personnel was withdrawn by the ECP in which any person could be arrested without arrest warrants if that person removes a banner.
Earlier, the ECP's move to grant sweeping powers to the Army was welcomed by Imran Khan's Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) which said it would ensure "free and fair elections".
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The ECP's direction earlier was criticised by Human Rights Commission of Pakistan which called it "unprecedented" bordering on the "dangerous on micro-management by an institution that should not be involved so closely in what is strictly a civilian mandate."