22nd Amendment Bill to be tabled in NA today

Qualification for appointment of CEC, ECP members being changed

ISLAMABAD: The Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms (PCER) on Tuesday finalised the constitutional amendment to amend the qualification of the Chief Election Commissioner and members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), which would be introduced in the National Assembly today (Wednesday).

The approval for bringing the 22nd constitutional amendment bill was given in the PCER meeting held on Tuesday under its chairman, Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar.

“We have finalised the draft of the 22nd constitutional amendment for bringing the amendment in the qualification and procedure of the CEC appointment and members of the Election Commission of Pakistan,” said Ishaq Dar while talking to newsmen after chairing the meeting.

Following getting approval of the draft of the 22nd constitutional amendment, the proposed amendment has been put on the agenda for today’s (Wednesday) sitting of the National Assembly and Ishaq Dar will present the interim report of the PPCER while Law Minister Zahid Hamid will introduce the bill further to amend the Constitution.

The proposed constitutional bill envisages amending Articles 211, 213, 215, 217, 218, 219 and 222 of the Constitution.

Under the proposed amendments, as for appointment of four members of the commission, one member would be taken from each province.

A retired judge of the high court or a person who qualifies to be a judge of the high court or a senior bureaucrat or a technocrat could be considered for appointment as an ECP member.

As a onetime exercise, initially to secure institutional memory, two members of the commission shall stand retired after two and a half years while the other two would retire after the next two and a half years.

Besides holding elections of the national and provincial assemblies, the ECP would also hold elections of local bodies, for which necessary amendments were being proposed.  It is to be mentioned the tenure of the four ECP members will expire on June 10.