Countdown begins, poll on Oct 6

ISLAMABAD, Sept 20: The Election Commission announced on Thursday the schedule for what has been termed the country’s most controversial presidential election, despite the fact that certain key issues relating to the election are at present being adjudicated by the Supreme Court.

According to the schedule, votes will be cast on Oct 6, six days ahead of the eighth anniversary of the coup that brought Gen Musharraf into power.Chief Election Commissioner Qazi Mohammad Farooq, who announced the schedule, will be the returning officer.

He will preside over a joint session of the two houses of parliament to conduct the poll proceedings. Chief justices of the four high courts will be presiding officers in provincial assemblies. The polling will be held from 10am to 3pm.

Returning and presiding officers will receive nomination papers till 12 noon on Sept 27. Papers will be scrutinised in Islamabad on Sept 29 at 10am, and Oct 1 is the date set for withdrawal of candidature with 12 noon as the time limit.

The list of final contestants will be issued at 1pm the same day.The chief justices nominated as presiding officers in the provincial capitals are Justice Iftikhar Hussain Chaudhry of the Lahore High Court, Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed of the Sindh High Court, Justice Tariq Pervez Khan of the Peshawar High Court and Justice Amanullah Khan Yasinzai of the Balochistan High Court.

Nomination forms may be obtained from the ECP Secretariat, Islamabad, offices of the high court registrar concerned and provincial election commissioners.

An Election Commission official told Dawn that the polling would be conducted by secret ballot.He said Article 63 of the Constitution would not apply to the polls following an amendment made to the Presidential Election Rules, 1988, bringing them in conformity with some judgments of the apex court.

He, however, said the returning officer might conduct a summary inquiry and reject a nomination paper if he found that the candidate was not qualified under the Constitution, the proposer or seconder was not a voter, the signature of the proposer or seconder was not genuine, the nomination was not filed before noon on the date set for the purpose, or if a proposer or seconder had signed the nomination papers of more than one candidate.

So far, only President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Prof Anwarul Haq, a pathologist currently serving in the Ministry of Health, have announced their intention to contest the polls.As a result of the amendment to the rules for the presidential election, serving government servants may not have to wait for two years after retirement to be candidates and even serving civil and military bureaucrats can run for the post.

Meanwhile, federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has said the president would contest the election in uniform but he would meet his commitment to doff the uniform after polls and would take oath as a civilian president.However, he said, President Musharraf would be in uniform during general elections if the assemblies were dissolved before his election.

He said Gen Musharraf would file his nomination papers after discussing the matter with the party leadership.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Thursday said President Musharraf would be a candidate of the PML and its coalition partners, which had a clear majority in the electoral college.