ISLAMABAD - The visible lack of will paired with notable apathy to get its authority exercised looks to have dampened the Election Commission's newly found ‘resolve’ to 'discipline' the politicians, while a credible electoral expert believes that the Commission can take to task the elements involved in pre-poll rigging including those of 1990 general polls.
As the electoral body remains assertively yet idealistically vocal in propagating high-sounding claims to purge the electoral process from the foul play, the reality goes otherwise.
On one hand, the Election Commission expresses its inability to move against pre-poll rigging before the announcement of election schedule in any constituency citing the absence of laws, on the other hand, it tries to justify its helplessness to intervene during post-polls period after an election is notified, reasoning the lack of pertinent provisions, again.
Executive Director, Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT), Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, however, rejects the Election Commission's version in this regard questioning the Commission's credibility under such a ‘helpless scenario’.
"Just because there are no laws, doesn't make an excuse for the ECP to believe that it cannot take action on pre-poll rigging reports. The scenario is not that helpless after all," he told this journalist.
"The Constitution of Pakistan unequivocally empowers the ECP to hold free and fair elections and exercise complete authority to make this process credible. This entails all the powers vested in the Commission to take on any kind of foul play and take up any matter concerning the elections," he said.
"If the Election Commission cannot take action against malpractices concerning the electoral process then what is this hype all about? Do the ECPs tall claims make any sense then?" Mehboob asked ,adding, that it was well within the Commission's mandate to proceed against the perpetrators of pre-poll rigging in 1990 general polls.
"The Supreme Court has ordered the government to take action against those culprits after the scale of their involvement in the rigging is determined. The ECP and other departments concerned can exercise their authority in the light of SC decision. The Election Commissions bosses are totally wrong when they say that they cannot do anything in this regard," he stated with reference to Chief Election Commissioner Justice (Retd) Fakhruddin G Ebrahim's statement that Election Commission was powerless in 1990 pre-poll rigging case. 
Recalling the past, Ahmed Bilal said, the Election Commission used to be a temporary body, constituted ahead of the general elections.
"Now the ECP is a permanent body that works round the year. This is so because it has a lot of responsibilities to abide by. If the ECP cannot affectively enforce its writ, it should be rightly considered as a useless entity."
"If the Commission needs more powers that require legislation, it can draft proposals for this purpose the same way the Election Commission formulates proposals on a number of issues," the expert believed referring to the ECP's proposals for increasing Balochistans seats in the National Assembly and declaring the final results at any woman polling station null and void that has less than 10 per cent of voters turnout during the general elections.
Slamming the draft of the code of conduct for the upcoming general polls the Election Commission approved on Wednesday, Ahmed Bilal Mehboob negated the ECP's claim that it had discussed the code of conduct with the political parties.
"The Election Commission hasn't discussed this document with any political party. It has only send them the codes copies and the political parties are asked to give their input within 15 days. This code of conduct draft is but a combination of sheer follies and anomalies," he added.
The code of conduct's first 19 points, Mehboob pointed, are mere repetitions of the already existing laws. The use of words like 'encourage' or avoid' in the document have no binding effect on the political parties, he said.
Pointing to another loophole in the draft, the electoral expert quoted point 40 of the 49-point draft, which says, "The organisers shall take steps in advance to arrange for passage of the procession so that there is no blockage of or hindrance to traffic. If the procession is very long, it shall be organised in segments of suitable lengths.”
Commenting on this provision, Mehboob asked, "Is there any given scale to measure a 'very long' procession in political terms? How can we politically define a 'long procession'? Such kind of sweeping directives belittle the credibility of the code of conduct draft. This document has no legal standing unless it is agreed upon by the political parties and officially enforced as a law."
The new draft of the ECP code of conduct comes, more or less, as a mere repetition of an earlier draft the Commission prepared months ago.
On account of the Election Commission's overly idealistic approach, alleged political meddling and lack of will, the ECP has failed in implementing in letter and spirit even a single of the nine code of conducts it respectively formulated ahead of 1970, 1977, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1997, 2002 and 2008 general polls.