ISLAMABAD: The Sub-committee of the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms Friday decided to change the procedure of registration of political parties in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and proposed to keep out from election process with cancelling the registration of all those political parties who failed to secure five percent of total votes cast in the general elections.
It was also agreed in the meeting that the ECP should not allot election symbols to those political who failed to secure five percent of the total votes cast in the general election. Law Minister Zahid Hamid chaired the meeting on Friday. Talking to newsmen after the meeting, Hamid said the sub-committee proposed to enhance registration fee of political parties from Rs100,000 to Rs1 million.
He said it was also proposed that membership of 10,000 persons should be mandatory for registration of a political party with the ECP. The Law Minister though there was agreement in the meeting for making mandatory for awarding 5 percent party tickets to women yet the JUI (F) has expressed its reservation on the proposal.
He said it was also decided in the meeting that it was mandatory for all the political parties to post the names of all of its office bearers on the website. ‘The Election Commission of Pakistan has also finalised its rules for the Election Act 2017,” he added.
The sub-committee rejected a proposal of the PTI for appointment of caretaker government. The PPP has also opposed the PTI proposal for new procedure of appointment of caretaker government. The sub-committee has decided to continue the current constitutional procedure of the appointment of the caretaker government.
Though the members in the committee supported the proposal to lift ban on parliamentarians for running election campaign, the ECP opposed the proposal and this matter has been referred to the main Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms.
The sub-committee has completed 65 percent of its task and its report would be presented in the main Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms.