Consensus on 13 constitutional, six electoral reforms

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar on Tuesday said the Sub-Committee of the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms had completed its 80 percent task and was expected to submit its final recommendations to the main committee in a month.
“The Zahid Hamid-led Sub-Committee has already deliberated upon the existing six electoral laws and finalised its recommendations to a great extent. Completion of 80 per cent work on poll reforms in just one year is a big achievement while the drafting of constitutional amendments in this regard has already been ordered,” he said while addressing a press conference here after chairing the main committee’s meeting.
Dar said the sub-committee had reached a consensus on 13 constitutional amendments.“The members of the committee have been asked to consult their parties and leaderships on contentious issues and come back with the party position in 10 days,” he added.
He said the sub-committee had also decided to enlist those issues on which consensus could not be reached within 10 days and sent them to the main committee for further consideration.The minister said the sub-committee would finalise all its recommendations within a month and then send them to the main committee
To save time, he said, drafting on the proposed legislation and constitutional amendments had already begun.Dar said the Election Commission was seized with the issue of voting rights for the overseas Pakistanis.
Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhry represents the treasury and Dr. Arif Alvi the opposition in the process being handled by the commission.The finance minister said on his instance, the Parliamentary Committee today (Tuesday) referred the Judicial Commission’s observations about shortcomings in the electoral system to the sub-committee for consideration.
Dar said the PTI was participating both in the deliberations of the main and sub-committees.To a question, he opposed the PTI’s demand for resignation of the Election Commission members. To another question, he said a fresh census was expected under the army’s supervision in March next year.
Deliberating upon the progress so far made by the sub-committee, fresh polls would be held within 120 days of completion of local government tenures.He said besides retired judges, in-service and retired public service officials and technocrats could be appointed asmembers and head of the Election Commission after the passage of new election laws.
Hamid said over 10 per cent changes in the delimitation of constituencies would not be allowed under the proposed reforms. He said the parliamentarians would be bound to submit their tax returns.
Gap between two consecutive polling stations would be one kilometer instead of two, he told the media. He added that election tribunals will have to announce verdicts after holding incessant hearings on poll petitions.
“The Election Commission will possess the authority of declaring the election null and void in a constituency that received less than 10 per cent votes.”Presenting the overview of the meetings of the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms, Dar said the sub-committee had held 23 meetings and submitted three progress reports thus far.
Progress Report in respect of the first six meetings was submitted to the PCER on November 19, 2014. The committee was informed that apart from briefings on important issues such as the census, preparation of electoral rolls, Biometric Verification system and Electronic Voting Machines etc., the sub-committee had examined various proposals regarding 6 election laws, namely (i)Delimitation of Constituencies Act, 1974; (ii) Electoral Rolls Act, 1974; (iii) Political Parties Order, 2002: (iv) Allocation of Symbols Order, 2002; (v) Election Commission Order, 2002; and (vi) partly, the Representation of the People Act, 1976 (RoPA).
The second progress report was submitted to the committee on March 11, 2015. It was reported that the sub-committee had continued its examination of the provisions of RoPA.It was also mentioned that the sub-committee had inter-alia asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to finalize draft Unified Rules to prescribe detailed procedures for implementation of the proposed Unified Election Law.
In the third Progress Report dated 24th April 2015, it was submitted that the sub-committee had completed consideration of RoPA.The report also mentioned details of the acts/orders examined so far by the sub-committee, and a summary of the noteworthy decisions/recommendations of the Sub-Committee.
The sub-committee has held nine meetings after the submission of the Third Progress Report. In these meetings, the sub-committee considered (i) the Senate (Election) Act 1975; (ii) the Senate (Election) Act 1975 as made applicable to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA); (iii) Senate (Election of Members from the Federal Capital) Order 1988; and (iv) constitutional provisions relating to elections.
Some important decisions/recommendations of the sub-committee since the last Progress Report are summarized below,The sub-committee invited all members of the National Assembly and the Senate from Fata to ascertain their views about the election of senators from the Fata.
After discussion with the members of the National Assembly and the Senate from Fata and Safron, it was recommended that a legislative and executive council, named Fata Council with approximately 40 members, be directly elected from the Agencies and Frontier Regions (FRs) with reserved seats for women.
The council shall be the Electoral College for electing senators from Fata and shall exercise all executive powers under Article 247. Till the establishment of elected Fata Council, parliamentarians from Fata in the Senate and National Assembly should constitute the FATA Council and exercise executive powers under Article 247.
The committee has requested the Ministry of Safron to process its proposal, requiring amendments in the Constitution, in consultation with all the ministries/divisions concerned in accordance with the rules of business.
The sub-committee considered various constitutional provisions relating to elections, including Articles 17 (Freedom of association), 51 (National Assembly), 52 (Duration of National Assembly), 59 (The Senate), 62 and 63 [Qualifications and Disqualifications for membership of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament)], 63A (Disqualification on grounds of defection, etc.), 140A (Local Government), 213 (Chief Election Commissioner), 215 (Term of office of Commissioner and members), 217 (Acting Commissioner), 218 (Election Commission), 219 (Duties of Commission), 221 (Officers and servants), 222 (Electoral laws), 223 (Bar against double membership) and 224 (Time of Election and bye-election). There was consensus on amendments to Articles 59(1)(c), 62(1)[part], 63, 140A, 213, 215, 217, 218, 219, 221, 222, 223 and 224.
It also considered the directions/observations contained in the judgment of the Honorable Supreme Court in Constitution Petition No. 87 of 2011 (Workers Party of Pakistan vs. Federation of Pakistan) and made appropriate recommendations.
The Sub-Committee invited representatives of NADRA, PTA, COMSATS, NUST, FAST-NUCES, UBL, U-FONE and MOBILINK to hear their views/recommendations regarding the introduction of Biometric Voter Identification System (BVIS) and Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
The sub-committee considered recommendations sent by the women’s Parliamentary Caucus and decided to recommend to PCER that if out of the total number of persons who have voted in a constituency, the number of women voters is less than 10%, the ECP should declare the election void.
On the request of the ECP, the sub-committee has nominated two of its members, Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhry and Dr. Arif Alvi, MNAs on a Working Group constituted by the ECP to undertake a study (initially planned to be completed by 30th June, 2015) to examine the feasibility of different options for facilitating voting by Overseas Pakistanis.
The sub-committee directed senior draftsman and the secretary ECP to examine provisions in laws of other countries, if any, regarding limit on the number of seats for which a candidate may contest.
The sub-committee asked the secretary ECP and senior advisor Ministry of Law, Justice and Human Rights to incorporate all of its decisions/amendments in the Draft Unified Election Laws and circulate the said draft, after vetting by the senior draftsman, to the members of the sub-committee on or before 27th July, 2015 so that it could be taken up for consideration in the meeting of the Sub-Committee on 29th July, 2015.
The report dated 22nd July 2015 of the Inquiry Commission on General Elections-2013 was referred to the sub-committee on Tuesday to make sure any shortcomings mentioned in the report are addressed if not already done.