Read at http://ecp.gov.pk/Post%20Election%20Review%20Report.pdf
There are many important points but after quickly going through, I found this paragraph important
Improve the enforceability of Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution
Article 62 of the constitution delineates the Qualifications for the Membership of Parliament and the Article 63 covers the Disqualifications for the Membership of Parliament. Some of the provisions in these articles are rather vague and their enforceability becomes a challenge and a subjective exercise as it did during the period leading to General Election 2013. For example Article 62 (1) d stipulates that 'A person shall not be qualified to be elected or chosen as a member of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) unless he is of good character and is not commonly known as one who violates Islamic Injunctions. Article 62 (1) e requires that a member should be the one who 'has adequate knowledge of Islamic teachings and practices obligatory duties prescribed by Islam as well as abstains from major sins'. During the scrutiny of candidates' nomination papers by the Returning Officers during the General Election 2013, Returning Officers did not have a clear idea of how to enforce such requirements and ascertain a candidate's qualification or otherwise in the light of such constitutional provisions. Even ECP did not seek an interpretation of these articles from the Supreme Court and the ECP did not issue any guidelines to the Returning Officers on implementation of these and other similar provisions. As a result many candidates' papers were rejected by Returning Officers and ultimately the superior courts allowed such candidates to contest the election. It is proposed that the ECP should lead the effort to resolve this situation well before the next election. The Supreme Court and the Parliament of Pakistan should also play their roles in interpretation and amendment (if required) of such provisions to remove ambiguities and make these provisions uniformly enforceable.
Some More Points
The report admitted that candidates got clearance clear to run for elections without proper scrutiny as the State Bank, FBR, NADRA and NAD did not cooperate fully with the Election Commission.
It also pointed out that a Results Management System devised by the UNDP was a failure.
The report said that in some areas, teams appointed by the ECP for campaign monitoring could not deliver the expected outcome, and violations of the code of conduct by some candidates went unnoticed.
Another challenge faced was lack of support from political parties and contesting as candidates they were seen violating the code of conduct that was formulated in consultation with them. They certainly had responsibilities to make electoral process smooth and credible.
The ROs had the full authority to accept or reject nomination papers of the contesting candidates, but the ECP did not issue specific instructions on how to undertake this process and it was left to the ROs’ discretion/judicial competence, the report said.
It added provisions of Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution are subjective, and the application of these clauses varied from one RO to another. This caused inconsistencies in the scrutiny process. The new nomination form has superfluous information and many aspiring candidates sought help in completing this new form.
The ECP tried to obtain and make public potential candidates’ records of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and NADRA.
The scrutiny period was too short, and some of these organizations did not provide information in the required time, so candidates were cleared without proper verification. A centralized scrutiny cell was set up in the ECP Secretariat with members from NAB, SBP, FBR and NADRA to verify the candidates’ nomination papers.
“Though it was a good initiative, this cell did not perform effectively,” the report said.
Source : http://www.samaa.tv/pakistan/22-Sep-2014/ecp-report-admits-shortcomings-in-last-elections
