The parliamentary committee on electoral reforms finalised ‘The Election Bill, 2017’, with dissenting notes by five political parties on different issues.The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf boycotted the Wednesday’s sitting of the committee at the Parliament House, saying its four major demands including voting right for overseas Pakistanis, reconstitution of the Election Commission of Pakistan, biometric verification of voters and criteria for the appointment of caretaker governments at the federal and provincial levels have not been met. Moreover, the Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Awami National Party (ANP) wrote dissenting notes on different issues. According to report, the JI and the JUI-F opposed a clause of the bill under which less than 10 per cent turnout of women voters in any constituency will make the election void and termed the clause in violation of the fundamental rights.Besides, the JI also submitted a dissenting note aver unlimited election expenses by political parties during the general election, voting right to overseas Pakistanis, biometric verification of voters and financial autonomy for the ECP.The MQM’s dissenting note was about publication of extra ballot papers, while the ANP objected to some procedural issues in the bill.Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar said the bill had been finalised in less than two years and every political party had given its input in the proposed legislation for a broader consensus. In December 2016, the government had come up with a 149-page draft bill on the electoral reforms that primarily focussed on fine-tuning the existing election laws in the country.The parliamentary committee on electoral reforms had drafted the bill after deliberations lasting more than two years.The government had received some 631 proposals from various political parties and citizens to draft The Election Bill, 2017 that was tabled before the National Assembly in December 2016.Dar said the bill had been finalised after 118 meetings – 25 of the main parliamentary committee and 93 of a sub-committee headed by Law Minister Zahid Hamid.Besides the main law, he said, related rules had also been finalised in collaboration with the ECP.Recently, the ECP expressed its reservations over the delay in the enactment of electoral reforms, saying delays would impact quality of the next general election.
The Parliamentary Committee has done good job by holding its meeting following writing of a letter by the ECP to expedite adoption of the recommendation and provision of necessary constitutional and legislative cover to the proposals. The demand about introduction of bio-metric system is absolutely correct as it would eliminate chances of bogus voting and it should be adopted. Overseas Pakistanis should get right of vote and arrangements be made for conduct of polling. Election commission should be strengthen and given more power. All parties should prefer national interest instead of focusing on vested interests and should play role for free, fair and transparent elections.
