Peoples Act 1976 (ROPA), which stipulates laws related to conducting elections. The ECP, though has powers of a high court, has always shied away from using them and had been a docile institution. It had been blaming lack of clarity in laws for its submissive attitude.
Although the sub-committee had completed work on ROPA, it is willing to accommodate the proposals of the PTI in their second reading. The main committee having members from all the parties represented in Parliament was supposed to come up in three months with a comprehensive package of reforms containing necessary changes in the Constitution and the relevant laws to revamp the electoral system. The committee was assigned to make recommendations in respect of electoral reforms, required to ensure fair, free and transparent elections including adoption of the latest technology, available for holding polls. It was mandated to suggest draft legislation including constitutional amendments, if any, and ways and means to improve the system of elections and present its report to the parliament.
The committee was formed by the speaker after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif wrote a letter to him asking him to constitute the body to propose electoral reforms and a constitutional amendment for the selection criterion for caretaker governments.
According to the present constitutional arrangements, only the leaders of House and opposition in the National Assembly have the powers to decide about the caretaker prime minister during consultations. If they fail to reach an agreement, they will refer their recommendations to a parliamentary committee for decision. If it was also unable to work out an accord, the matter will be sent to the ECP for a decision. In this scheme, no parliamentary party in the outgoing National Assembly has any say in picking up the interim premier. The committee may change this procedure and broaden the process of consultations.
In his letter, the prime minister also referred to two earlier reports, one each by the committees of the two Houses of parliament, which remained inconclusive because of the expiry of the previous National Assembly. The new committee, he added, could draw upon recommendations of the two reports — report of a sub-committee of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs relating to amendments to electoral laws (Oct 2011); and report of the Senate Special Committee on Election Issues (Feb 2013).